Continued Spotlight on Missouri
Missouri is First or Second in the Nation 17 Years in a Row for Black Homicide Victimization
In 2023, Missouri once again had the highest Black homicide victimization rate in the nation. For prior editions of this study using FBI crime data, Missouri ranked first or second from 2007 to 2020. Due to a change in 2021 in the way FBI crime data are reported, state rankings for the years 2021 and onward use CDC mortality data.1 Using state rankings from CDC mortality data, Missouri has had the highest Black homicide victimization rate for the years 2021 to 2023. Looking at both data sets, Missouri has ranked either first or second in the nation for Black homicide victimization 17 years in a row.
Even these grim statistics do not reveal the true scope of the continuing crisis in Missouri. Despite already having the highest Black homicide victimization rate in the country, in the last decade CDC data reveal that the Black homicide victimization rate in Missouri more than doubled, increasing from 30.7 per 100,000 in 2013 to 66.0 per 100,000 in 2022, before decreasing to 54.9 per 100,000 in 2023 (Figure 8).
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- Prior editions of this report published in 2023 and earlier used FBI crime data for state rankings. As the current report and last year’s report use CDC mortality data, the state rankings in this report are not directly comparable to rankings published in reports from 2023 and earlier. Any comparisons with previous years should note this transition in data sources (FBI crime data to CDC mortality data).
