10 Most Dangerous Places in Massachusetts
Of course, Boston is the most dangerous place in Massachusetts, right? Not according to our latest crime analysis here on the Movoto Real Estate Blog. No, that honor went to Chelsea. We’ll talk more about the method of this analysis in a minute. First, here are the 10 most dangerous places in Massachusetts:
1. City of Chelsea
2. City of Springfield
3. City of Brockton
4. City of Worcester
5. City of New Bedford
6. City of Boston
7. City of Holyoke
8. City of Fall River
9. City of North Adams
10. City of Lawrence
Our Methodology
First, we gathered a list of the biggest places in the state, by way of the 2010 U.S. Census, with populations of 10,000 people or more. We then used the 2012 FBI Uniform Crime Report to look at each place according to the following criteria:
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Burglary
Theft
Vehicle theft
We then divided these crimes into four different categories:
Murders
Violent crimes
Property crimes
Total crimes
After omitting any places that didn’t report data to the bureau that year, we were left with a total of 68 places. From there, we calculated each place’s number of crimes per person and ranked them with scores from 1 to 68, according to the above criteria. Next, we weighted murders, violent crimes, and property crimes so that they each comprised 30 percent of the overall score, whereas the total number of crimes comprised 10 percent. Lastly, we averaged each city’s rankings into one overall Big Deal Score, where the scores closest to one were the most dangerous. To see more than just these top 10, head to the bottom of the post.
Please Note: This ranking is not a critique of police practices or effectiveness. It is simply an analysis of where crimes occurred.
1. Chelsea
Per capita, Chelsea had the most violent crimes in the state and had the second most total crimes overall. It also had the fourth highest number of property crimes per person and the fourth highest number of murders per person. Because of these high numbers, residents were more likely here than in most places to be the victim of a crime—they had a 1 in 18 chance.
2. Springfield
In 2012, Springfield had the second highest number of murders and property crimes per person. Most of those property crimes were thefts, but there were also a good number of burglaries and vehicle thefts. Overall, Springfield had the third highest number of crimes per person for the year, giving residents a 1 in 18 chance of being the victim of a crime.
3. Brockton
This Plymouth County city ranked high on our list for its high number of violent crimes. In 2012, it had the second most violent crimes per person in the state. Of course, most of these were assaults and robberies, but there were also 48 rapes and six total murders that year. With just under 100,000 residents and six murders, Brockton had the fourth highest number of murders per person in the state.
4. Worcester
In 2012, Worcester had a total of 8,190 crimes. With a population of over 183,000 people, that’s about .04 crimes per person. It also had the fifth highest number of property crimes, as well as the seventh highest number of violent crimes per person.
5. New Bedford
This city in Bristol County didn’t have the high number of murders per person that some of our top 10 did, but that doesn’t mean that it was exempt from violent crime. In fact, New Bedford had the third highest number of violent crimes per person in the state. Additionally, it had a high number of both property crimes and total crimes per person.
6. Boston
Out of all of the places we looked at, Boston had the most murders per capita. To put that into perspective for you, in 2012, Boston had a total of 57 murders. With a population of just over 630,600 people, that’s about nine murders per every 100,000 people, or .00009 per person. This may sound like a small number, but it is more than anywhere else in the state.
7. Holyoke
The Hampden County city of Holyoke is not necessarily a violent place—in fact, in 2012, it reported zero murders and had just the eighth highest number of violent crimes per capita. The reason it made our list was its number of property crimes—the highest number per person in the state. To put this into perspective for you, Holyoke had exactly .062 property crimes for each of its residents in 2012. A place like Lexington or Reading, though, had about .007. Because of its high number of property crimes, Holyoke also had the highest number of total crimes, and because of this, residents had just a 1 in 14 chance of being the victim of a crime.
8. Fall River
This Bristol County city didn’t have the highest number of murders on our list (although it did have the thirteenth highest per capita); however, that didn’t keep it from being one of the most violent places in the state. In 2012, Fall River had the fourth most violent crimes per person. Most of these were assaults, but there were also a total of 262 robberies, 52 rapes, and two murders that year. To top it off, Fall River had the 10th highest number of property crimes, making for the eighth highest total number of crimes per capita.
9. North Adams
The good news is that there were no murders reported in North Adam during 2012. The bad news is, North Adams had the third most property crimes, and with this high number, the fourth most total crimes per person in the state.
10. Lawrence
This Essex County city had some of the most violent crimes in the state in 2012—the sixth most per capita, to be precise. It also had the 10th most murders per person. To look at this a bit closer, in 2012, it had two reported murders, but with a population of just under 78,000 people, this was much higher than average. (Most places we looked at had zero.) All told, Lawrence had the 13th highest total number of crimes per capita, giving residents a 1 in 28 chance of being a victim
