World City rankings
Most Dangerous Cities in the World
Pietermaritzburg has the highest Crime Index by City in 2025 (82.7), followed by Pretoria (81.8) and Port Moresby (81.4). Cancun has the lowest (55.4).
Year 202598 of 1,103 cities
Crime Index by City, 2025
Green is better, red is worse (lower is better). Click a place to highlight it.
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Ranking
Best first: the first 15 and last 5 of 98 cities.
Distribution Median and middle halfThe median is the middle value: half of places are above it, half below. The middle half is the range holding the central 50% of places.More in the glossary →
Each dot is one city; the lines mark the median and the middle half.
Median
63.6
Middle half 58.7 – 69.1
Average
65.0
98 cities
Lowest (best)
55.4
Cancun
Highest (worst)
82.7
Pietermaritzburg
Data
Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.
123 cities · # = rank by Crime Index by City
| # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Cancun | 55.4 | 44.09 | 406 |
| 2 |  Brampton | 55.5 | — | — |
| 2 |  Malmo | 55.5 | — | — |
| 2 |  San Jose | 55.5 | — | — |
| 5 |  Baghdad | 55.6 | — | — |
| 5 |  Minneapolis | 55.6 | — | — |
| 5 |  Hamilton | 55.6 | — | — |
| 8 |  Nice | 55.8 | — | — |
| 9 | Las Vegas | 55.9 | — | — |
| 10 | Hamilton | 56.0 | — | — |
| 11 |  San Salvador | 56.1 | — | — |
| 12 |  Manchester | 56.2 | — | — |
| 13 |  Montevideo | 56.4 | — | — |
| 14 | Jacksonville | 56.6 | — | — |
| 15 |  Tehran | 57.1 | — | — |
| 15 | Portland | 57.1 | — | — |
| 15 |  Asuncion | 57.1 | — | — |
| 18 |  Karachi | 57.3 | — | — |
| 19 | Lyon | 57.5 | — | — |
| 20 | Paris | 58.1 | — | — |
| 20 | Puebla | 58.1 | — | — |
| 20 | Kansas City | 58.1 | — | — |
| 23 |  Ghaziabad | 58.4 | — | — |
| 24 | Nantes | 58.5 | — | — |
| 25 |  Brasilia | 58.6 | — | — |
| 26 | Delhi | 59.0 | — | — |
| 27 |  Nairobi | 59.6 | — | — |
| 27 | Belo Horizonte | 59.6 | — | — |
| 29 |  Kuala Lumpur | 60.2 | — | — |
| 29 | Indianapolis | 60.2 | — | — |
| 29 | Washington | 60.2 | — | — |
| 32 | Sault Ste. Marie | 60.3 | — | — |
| 33 | Winnipeg | 60.4 | — | — |
| 34 | Oshawa | 60.5 | — | — |
| 35 |  Liege | 60.7 | — | — |
| 36 | Curitiba | 60.9 | — | — |
| 36 | San Francisco | 60.9 | — | — |
| 38 | Montpellier | 61.1 | — | — |
| 39 | Grenoble | 61.2 | — | — |
| 40 |  Cordoba | 61.6 | — | — |
| 40 |  Townsville | 61.6 | — | — |
| 42 |  Dhaka | 61.7 | — | — |
| 43 |  Harare | 61.8 | — | — |
| 44 | Guadalajara | 62.2 | — | — |
| 45 | Kelowna | 62.3 | — | — |
| 46 |  Naples | 62.8 | — | — |
| 47 | Buenos Aires | 63.1 | — | — |
| 48 | Houston | 63.2 | — | — |
| 48 |  Quito | 63.2 | — | — |
| 50 |  Santiago | 64.0 | — | — |
| 51 |  Quezon City | 64.2 | — | — |
| 52 | Birmingham | 64.4 | — | — |
| 53 | Surrey | 64.5 | — | — |
| 54 | Atlanta | 64.6 | — | — |
| 55 | Manila | 64.7 | — | — |
| 56 | Coventry | 65.0 | — | — |
| 57 | Marseille | 65.3 | — | — |
| 58 | Philadelphia | 65.8 | — | — |
| 59 | Campinas | 66.0 | — | — |
| 60 | Chicago | 66.1 | — | — |
| 61 |  Bogota | 66.6 | — | — |
| 62 | Milwaukee | 66.7 | — | — |
| 62 | Alice Springs | 66.7 | — | — |
| 64 | New Orleans | 66.9 | 54.4 | 150 |
| 65 | Mexico City | 67.0 | — | — |
| 65 |  Windhoek | 67.0 | — | — |
| 67 | Bradford | 67.1 | — | — |
| 68 |  San Juan | 67.2 | 37.06 | 125 |
| 68 | Rockhampton | 67.2 | — | — |
| 70 |  Santo Domingo | 67.4 | — | — |
| 71 |  Lagos | 68.4 | — | — |
| 72 | Oakland | 68.7 | — | — |
| 73 |  Damascus | 69.1 | — | — |
| 73 |  Kingston | 69.1 | 70.73 | 475 |
| 75 | Sao Paulo | 70.1 | — | — |
| 75 |  Lima | 70.1 | — | — |
| 77 | Porto Alegre | 70.7 | — | — |
| 78 | Albuquerque | 71.7 | — | — |
| 79 | Cali | 71.8 | 42.09 | 1,007 |
| 80 | Tijuana | 72.0 | 87.88 | 1,638 |
| 81 | Baltimore | 72.7 | 35.3 | 201 |
| 82 | Detroit | 73.1 | 32.1 | 203 |
| 83 |  Cape Town | 73.6 | 66.8 | 3,231 |
| 84 | Guayaquil | 74.3 | 83.8 | 2,319 |
| 85 | Rio de Janeiro | 75.2 | — | — |
| 86 | Recife | 75.6 | 39.89 | 1,494 |
| 87 | Fortaleza | 75.7 | 42.63 | 1,678 |
| 88 |  Port of Spain | 76.3 | — | — |
| 89 | Salvador | 76.7 | 56.68 | 2,085 |
| 90 | Memphis | 78.0 | 48 | 297 |
| 91 | Port Elizabeth | 78.3 | — | — |
| 92 |  San Pedro Sula | 79.4 | 36.03 | 278 |
| 93 | Durban | 80.4 | 76.89 | 3,138 |
| 94 | Johannesburg | 80.8 | 41.43 | 2,547 |
| 95 |  Caracas | 81.3 | — | — |
| 96 |  Port Moresby | 81.4 | — | — |
| 97 | Pretoria | 81.8 | — | — |
| 98 | Pietermaritzburg | 82.7 | — | — |
| — | Manaus | — | 50.66 | 1,041 |
| — | Leon | — | 37.64 | 782 |
| — |  Port-au-Prince | — | 67.2 | 827 |
| — | Maceio | — | 39.45 | 379 |
| — | Chihuahua | — | 43.84 | 414 |
| — | Teresina | — | 37.3 | 324 |
| — | Morelia | — | 42.05 | 359 |
| — | Natal | — | 45.06 | 569 |
| — | Feira de Santana | — | 74.65 | 459 |
| — | Acapulco | — | 65.55 | 513 |
| — | Santa Marta | — | 39.28 | 280 |
| — | Irapuato | — | 61.6 | 539 |
| — | Macapa | — | 67.75 | 341 |
| — | Celaya | — | 68.07 | 370 |
| — | Vitoria da Conquista | — | 47.48 | 184 |
| — | Caucaia | — | 65.58 | 237 |
| — | Ensenada | — | 34.93 | 157 |
| — | Cuernavaca | — | 60.2 | 410 |
| — | Buenaventura | — | 35.16 | 157 |
| — | Duran | — | 148 | 453 |
| — | Machala | — | 77.5 | 239 |
| — | Mossoro | — | 63.21 | 167 |
| — | Portoviejo | — | 76 | 247 |
| — | Colima | — | 181.94 | 601 |
| — | Zacatecas | — | 134.62 | 490 |
What correlates with Crime Index by City (2025)?
Pearson r against 12 other city metrics sharing at least 59 cities. Ranks are read by standing: a better rank counts as higher, whether rank 1 is the best place on a list or the worst. Correlation is not causation.
Higher together
Places that have a higher Crime Index by City tend to score higher on these (or rank better)
- Population Density RankPopulation Density by CityA rank: rank 1 is the bestPlotr = −0.21 · weak · n = 75
Opposite directions
Places that have a higher Crime Index by City tend to score lower on these (or rank worse)
Nothing notable in this direction.
Quick answers
- Which world city has the highest Crime Index by City?
- Pietermaritzburg has the highest Crime Index by City in 2025, at 82.7, followed by Pretoria (81.8) and Port Moresby (81.4).
- Which world city has the lowest Crime Index by City?
- Cancun has the lowest Crime Index by City in 2025, at 55.4.
- What is the median Crime Index by City across world cities?
- The median is 63.6 across the 98 world cities with data in 2025.
- Where does this most dangerous cities in the world data come from?
- Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: 50 of the most dangerous cities in the world - USA Today; List of cities by homicide rate - Wiki; Crime Index by City - Numbeo. Last updated 2026-10-28.