Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Missouri has a crime problem, but it’s not spread evenly across the state. Just four cities — Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, and Columbia — are giving the state a bad name and driving most of the violence, even though they’re home to only about one in five Missourians.
These urban centers packed in more than 60% of Missouri’s violent crimes last year, according to new FBI data. It’s a pattern that’s been frustrating law enforcement and city leaders for years.
Kansas City saw the worst of it. With over 7,500 violent crimes reported in 2023, it led the pack by a wide margin. St. Louis wasn’t far behind, recording just over 4,000 incidents. Springfield and Columbia rounded out the group with 2,408 and 500 violent crimes respectively.
Springfield’s situation is particularly troubling. Despite being smaller than Kansas City or St. Louis, it’s seeing violence at nearly four times the national average. That’s roughly 1,400 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents — a rate that’s kept local law enforcement officials deeply concerned.
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves has made addressing violent crime a priority. “The only way we can root out violent crime is if everyone takes a stand against it,” Graves said at a community meeting in May 2023. “I want to make this clear. We are working hard to build a better, safer Kansas City.”
St. Louis’s struggles with violence aren’t new, but they’re getting harder to ignore. Mayor Tishaura Jones has emphasized the connection between crime and underlying social issues. “I am encouraged by our continued progress to make St. Louis safer,” Jones said in a year-end statement, “But now is not the time to celebrate. One life lost to violence is one too many.”
Even Columbia, despite being the smallest of the four cities, isn’t immune. Its violence rate sits well above what you’d expect for a college town, with about 472 violent crimes per 100,000 people last year.
Cities aren’t sitting idle. St. Louis is trying to stabilize troubled neighborhoods. Springfield has increased patrols in crime hotspots. Columbia’s bringing in social workers to help police. But change is slow — too slow for many residents.
Law enforcement officials across these cities agree: addressing violent crime requires both immediate action and long-term solutions that tackle underlying causes. As these four cities go, so goes Missouri’s battle against violent crime.
Missouri Cities with the Highest Violent Crime Rates in 2023:
Kansas City – 7,534 violent crimes
St. Louis – 4,048 violent crimes
Springfield – 2,408 violent crimes
Columbia – 500 violent crimes
Joplin – 640 violent crimes
Independence – 1,010 violent crimes
St. Charles – 820 violent crimes
Jefferson City – 380 violent crimes
For more detailed statistics, visit the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program or local law enforcement agency websites.
–Dwight Widaman Metro Voice
This article was produced and partially compiled in conjunction with Metro Voice’s AIAssistant “Luke” using FBI data.
