The most dangerous place in Georgia is obviously Atlanta, right?
It’s the biggest place in the state, so it must be dangerous.
Well, actually no, it’s not the most dangerous place in Georgia and it’s not even in the top ten. Well barely.
Instead of relying on speculation, we dug into the FBI crime data in order to identify the most dangerous places in Georgia. The result is the following list of top ten most dangerous:
- College Park
- East Point
- Americus
- Union City
- Douglas
- Brunswick
- Cordele
- Tifton
- Griffin
- Monroe
Atlanta came in at number 11. To find out why, continue on.
How We Determined The Most Dangerous Places In Georgia
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we didn’t want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI’s last three years of reporting.
Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report which summarizes the number of property crimes and violent crimes in each city per year.
Violent crimes are defined as rapes, murders, robberies and aggravated assaults.
While we had data on every single place in the state, we only analyzed places with populations of more than 10,000 people as of 2013, which is the last year the report was available.
This left us with a total of 71 places in Georgia to rank.
Finally, we made 2013 factor more heavily than 2012, and 2012 more heavily than 2011, since more recent crimes are a bigger factor in determining how dangerous a place is now.
If any places tied, we used the violent crime rank as a tiebreaker.
You can see our overall ranking at the bottom of the post. Click here to see the complete data set.
We must note that this report is not an analysis of the effectiveness of local police departments. It simply states where crimes occurred most frequently.
1. College Park
Population: 14,871
Violent Crime Rank: 1
Property Crime Rank: 1
College Park, where crime happens in Georgia.
The city took the top spot for both violent crimes per capita and property crimes per capita over the course of the past three years.
It’s important to remember that the FBI bases its crime data on where the crimes occurred and the police department for College Park covers places Clayton and Fulton County associated with the city and not just the city proper.
That being said, Ludacris, 2 Chainz, and Jung Joc all came from College Park and they don’t sing about rainbows and butterflies
2. East Point
Population: 36,172
Violent Crime Rank: 5
Property Crime Rank: 2
East Point comes in second on our list for the most dangerous places in Georgia. Just southwest of Atlanta, the city beats its bigger neighbor when it comes to crime.
Residents of East Point have a 1 in 8.49 chance of being the victim of a crime. For reference, the most dangerous place in Virginia had about a 1 in 15 chance of being the victim of a crime.
East Point ranks as the second highest city for property crime per capita which contributes to its high chance of crime.
3. Americus
Population: 16,190
Violent Crime Rank: 2
Property Crime Rank: 8
Americus may be the third most dangerous place in Georgia, but it’s the second most prone to violent crimes.
With .014 violent crimes per capita (or 140 per 10,000 people), only College park came in at a higher rate.
So while Americus is the county seat of Sumter County, it’s also the the location where the most crimes occurred in the County.
4. Union City
Population: 20,826
Violent Crime Rank: 7
Property Crime Rank: 3
Union city ranked high on our list of the most dangerous places in Georgia because of its outsized property crime rate for a city of its size.
Unlike the rest of the country, Union City has actually seen a rise in crime, both violent and property, over the past three years.
As one City-Data user put it, “Union City is so-so at best.”
5. Douglas
Population: 11,892
Violent Crime Rank: 8
Property Crime Rank: 5
One of the smaller places on the list, Douglas still competes when it comes to crime.
The seat of Coffee County, the city gets some of a caffeine rush from property crime, for which it ranks 5th overall in Georgia.
So while it has things to do and the cost of living isn’t bad, Douglas gets an F when it comes to crime.
6. Brunswick
Population: 15,709
Violent Crime Rank: 4
Property Crime Rank: 12
Like many port cities we have looked at, Brunswick ranks highly for the occurrence of crime. In particular, violent crime rates in Brunswick stick out for being the fourth worst in Georgia.
There were 162 violent crimes in Brunswick, but that’s down from 251 violent crimes in 2011.
A City Data user says, “I am 22-years-old and DO NOT recommend Brunswick for a single person looking to get out there and have fun and meet people.” Probably because going out there leads to crime.
7. Cordele
Population: 11,358
Violent Crime Rank: 12
Property Crime Rank: 4
Cordelle ranks as the 7th most dangerous place in Georgia according to the FBI crime data and our analysis.
The property crime rate is the bigger drag on the city relative to violent crimes. There were 847 property crimes in 2013 and a resident had about a 1 in 13 chance of being the victim of a property crime.
Overall, it scores as one of the least safe places in Georgia according to NeighborhoodScout.
8. Tifton
Population: 16,781
Violent Crime Rank: 9
Property Crime Rank: 11
Tifton is another county seat that also represents its county as one of the most dangerous places in Georgia.
Coming in at 8th on our list, Tifton mixes (relatively) middle of the pack violent crime and property crime without (relatively) excelling in either one.
We say relative because while its crime rates are middle of the pack for the top ten, they are still high for Georgia as a whole.
9. Griffin
Population: 23,313
Violent Crime Rank: 11
Property Crime Rank: 9
Representing Spalding County, Griffin breaks into our top ten most dangerous places in Georgia coming in at number nine.
Griffin’s ranking for violent crime and property were the reverse of Tifton with property crime being the higher of the two this time.
Griffin is a bit off the beaten path about 50 miles south of Atlanta. Yet it still manages its fair share of crime.
10. Monroe
Population: 13,364
Violent Crime Rank: 15
Property Crime Rank: 7
Monroe comes in at number ten on our list, just edging out Atlanta.
Monroe’s violent crime rates are much better than the other cities in our top 10, 10% better than the closest competitor (Cordele).
However, its property crime rate kept the city within the top 10. And like every other city in our top 10, it scored an F when it comes to crime.
Closing the books
So when you pull away bias and opinions, that’s the set of top ten most dangerous places in Georgia that the data delivers.
You rest easy knowing that Atlanta isn’t in the top ten. At least for now.