Oh that s because they don t Or more precisely because the More Guns Less Crime faction can t get the difference straight between number of crimes and number of crimes per capita Regional Offense Trends and Rates The UCR Program divides the United States into four regions the Northeast the Midwest the South and the West A map of the United States delineating the regions is included in Appendix III Estimated crime volume rates and percent changes by region are published in Table 4 per 100 000 violent crime murder northeast 416 5 2 80 4 1 3 70 midwest 424 9 1 40 5 1 3 50 west 508 2 2 10 5 8 4 10 south 571 0 2 00 6 8 0 70 The gun banning northeast has the lowest violent crime rate the lowest murder rate the steepest decline in violent crime and the steepest decline in murder rates The second amendment loving south has the highest violent crime rate the highest murder rate the second lowest decrease in violent crime rate and the second highest increase in murder rate Include property crime The FBI s Crime Index rate reflects the total number of offenses per 100 000 residents According to the FBI the national Crime Index rate for 2002 was 4 118 The Northeast region of the United States had the lowest crime of the four regions with a rate of 2 889 offenses per 100 000 population The next lowest region was the Midwest with a Crime Index rate of 3 883 offenses The Western region followed with a rate of 4 418 offenses while the Southern region showed the highest crime rate of 4 722 offenses per 100 000 residents 100 Largest Metro Areas Ranked in order from Least to Most Crime Nassau Suffolk NY Middlesex Somerset Hunterdon NJ Ventura CA Monmouth Ocean NJ Bergen Passaic NJ Scranton Wilkes Barre Hazleton PA Harrisburg Lebanon Carlisle PA San Jose CA Pittsburgh PA Orange County CA Ann Arbor MI Albany Schenectady Troy NY Boston MA NH ME New York NY Allentown Bethlehem Easton PA Syracuse NY Philadelphia PA NJ Hartford CT Rochester NY Newark NJ Buffalo Niagara Falls NY San Diego CA Providence Fall River Warwick RI MA Jersey City NJ Grand Rapids Muskegon Holland MI Cleveland Lorain Elyria OH San Francisco CA New Haven Meriden CT St Louis MO IL Salt Lake City Ogden UT Wichita KS Mobile AL Houston TX Nashville TN Orlando FL Fresno CA McAllen Edinburg Mission TX Fort Worth Arlington TX Charleston North Charleston SC Jacksonville FL Charlotte Gastonia Rock Hill NC SC Dallas TX Omaha NE IA Tampa St Petersburg Clearwater FL Columbia SC Toledo OH Albuquerque NM Tacoma WA Columbus OH Kansas City MO KS West Palm Beach Boca Raton FL Honolulu HI Oklahoma City OK Stockton Lodi CA Baton Rouge LA San Antonio TX Little Rock North Little Rock AR Phoenix Mesa AZ Miami FL Memphis TN AR MS Tucson AZ Does a pattern emerge The cities listed here are the 114 Mid sized Metropolitan Statistical Areas ranging in population from approximately 500 000 to 200 000 114 Mid size Areas Ranked in order from Least to Most Crime Danbury CT Stamford Norwalk CT Johnstown PA Dutchess County NY Portsmouth Rochester NH ME Lowell MA NH Lawrence MA NH Newburgh NY PA Lynchburg VA Appleton Oshkosh Neenah WI Manchester NH York PA Erie PA Santa Barbara Santa Maria Lompoc CA Binghamton NY Worcester MA CT New London Norwich CT RI Lancaster PA Green Bay WI San Luis Obispo Atascadero Paso Robles CA Utica Rome NY Brazoria TX Fayetteville Springdale Rogers AR Portland ME Reading PA Brockton MA Roanoke VA Santa Rosa CA Anchorage AK Lakeland Winter Haven FL Longview Marshall TX Kalamazoo Battle Creek MI Beaumont Port Arthur TX Chattanooga TN GA South Bend IN Biloxi Gulfpo