What are the most dangerous cities in Ohio? To get the lowdown on the cities in Ohio that are the most dangerous with the highest crime rates, we consulted the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report. Our rankings are based solely on the data publicly released each year by the FBI. A crime is a crime, so we took both violent and property crimes into account when compiling our list of Ohio’s most dangerous cities.*

We realize that this topic is inherently controversial in nature and hits close to home. We are aware that there are many different ways to present this data, but when compiling this list we chose to consider not just murder rate, but both violent and property crimes. Check each city listing to get a general idea of the city’s ranking in terms of just violent criminal offenses. Only cities with violent crime rates over 5.0 and populations over 10,000 were included.

1. Whitehall, OH: Ohio’s Most Dangerous City Population: 18,305

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 8.96 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 92.60 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 101.56 per 1,000 residents Whitehall has a crime rate of about 102 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Whitehall? One in 10. Whitehall’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #8 These statistics make Whitehall the most dangerous city in Ohio.

2. Middletown, OH Population: 48,959

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 7.33 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 82.25 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 89.59 per 1,000 residents Middletown has a crime rate of about 90 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Middletown? One in 11. Middletown’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #10

3. Hamilton, OH Population: 62,791

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 5.92 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 75.06 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 80.98 per 1,000 residents Hamilton has a crime rate of about 81 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Hamilton? One in 12. Hamilton’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #13

4. Springfield, OH Population: 60,329

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 6.18 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 71.89 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 78.07 per 1,000 residents Springfield has a crime rate of about 78 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Springfield? One in 13. Springfield’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #12

5. Cleveland, OH Population: 393,781

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 13.84 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 61.73 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 75.57 per 1,000 residents Cleveland has a crime rate of about 76 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Cleveland? One in 13. Cleveland’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #1

6. Canton, OH Population: 72,914

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 10.00 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 64.76 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 74.76 per 1,000 residents Canton has a crime rate of about 75 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Canton? One in 13. Canton’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #5

7. Cincinnati, OH Population: 296,204

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 9.75 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 61.35 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 71.10 per 1,000 residents Cincinnati has a crime rate of about 71 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Cincinnati? One in 14. Cincinnati’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #6

8. Cambridge, OH Population: 10,592

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 5.85 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 63.54 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 69.39 per 1,000 residents Cambridge has a crime rate of about 69 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Cambridge? One in 14. Cambridge’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #14

9. Dayton, OH Population: 142,139

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 9.74 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 58.99 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 68.73 per 1,000 residents Dayton has a crime rate of about 69 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Dayton? One in 14. Dayton’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #7

10. Lima, OH Population: 38,691

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 12.04 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 65.80 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 53.76 per 1,000 residents Lima has a crime rate of about 54 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Lima? One in 15. Lima’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #2

11. Youngstown, OH Population: 66,567

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 10.28 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 54.62 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 64.90 per 1,000 residents Youngstown has a crime rate of about 65 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Youngstown? One in 15. Youngstown’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #4

12. Akron, OH Population: 198,390

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 8.87 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 50.58 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 59.44 per 1,000 residents Akron has a crime rate of about 59 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Akron? One in 16. Akron’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #9

13. Lorain, OH Population: 64,148

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 5.07 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 50.40 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 55.47 per 1,000 residents Lorain has a crime rate of about 55 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Lorain? One in 18. Lorain’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #15

14. Warren, OH Population: 41,355

Annual Crimes Per 1,000 Residents

Violent Crimes: 6.75 per 1,000 residents

Property Crimes: 48.60 per 1,000 residents

Total Reported Crimes: 55.35 per 1,000 residents Warren has a crime rate of about 55 per one thousand residents. Your chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Warren? One in 18. Warren’s ranking when considering only violent crimes? #11

Other cities of interest: Property crime data for Toledo, OH was not included in the 2012 FBI Crime Report. Toledo ranks #3 when considering only violent crimes and has a population of 286,020.

Note: We use a standard computational formula to calculate our crime rates. This same formula is used by various state government criminal justice departments to calculate crime rate. VIOLENT CRIMES + PROPERTY CRIMES = TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES / POPULATION * 1000 = CRIME RATE

*Only cities included in the 2012 FBI UCR with populations of 10,000 or higher and violent crime rates over 5.00 were considered for our rankings.