US News & World Report rates Kansas City one of the country’s most dangerous places

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A major publication’s list of most dangerous cities in the United States was not kind to Kansas City.

The U.S. News & World Report ranked the City of Fountains as No. 8 in its 25 Most Dangerous Places in the U.S. in 2024-2025.

The media company ranked cities based on their murder and property crime rates per 100,000 people, determined by FBI crime reports, it stated.

In 2023, 182 people died as a result of a homicide, the deadliest in the city’s history. That number dropped by 20 percent in 2024 (144), the lowest number for Kansas City since 2019.

While that is a trend line that we want to see, we want to see an even steeper drop,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said at the time.

KCPD introduced a new crime plan in 2024, and Police Chief Stacey Graves said in 2025 the department would continue its SAVE KC plan to lower gun violence and build back patrols on the streets.

On Wednesday morning, Mayor Quinton Lucas shared that Kansas City’s 43 homicides in 2025 are three fewer than the four-year average of 46. There have also been 83 non-fatal shootings as of Sunday, a 56 percent decrease from the four-year average of 148.

Two other Missouri cities appeared in the Top 25 Most Dangerous Places list: St. Louis at No. 2 and Springfield at No. 14.