These are the most dangerous and safest MS cities, crime data shows. See if your city is listed
Mississippi has the second highest homicide rate and ranks among the least safe states in the country, according to SafeHome. The home security website used recent FBI data to rank cities in the Magnolia State with the highest and lowest violent and property crime rates.
“The correlation between crime rates and poverty levels has been increasingly linked and Mississippi is no exception,” Derek Prall, a home security expert, said in the study, published in August.
The state also ranks last in the country for the number of residents living below the poverty line, something experts largely attributed to Mississippi’s “reluctance to industrialize quickly and racial disparity in the wake of Jim Crow laws,” according to the study.
Is your city on the list of Mississippi least safe cities? Take a look:
What MS cities have the highest crime, property rates?
One Mississippi city ranks the most dangerous, based on violent and property crime rates, according to the SafeHome study.
Laurel, located about 90 miles southeast from Jackson, had the highest property and violent crime rates, the study found. The town is known for HGTV’s home makeover show “Home Town” taking place there, but its crime rates are higher than both the state and national average, experts said.
“Like the rest of Mississippi, Laurel’s crime rates are a reflection of its history — one fraught with race-based social and educational disparity, violence and economic oppression,” Prall said in the study.
These are the Mississippi cities with the highest crime rates, according to SafeHome:
1. Laurel: 1,016 violent crimes per 100,000 people
2. West point: 889
3. Cleveland: 682
These cities had the highest property crime rates in Mississippi, according to SafeHome:
1. Laurel: 4,922 property crimes per 100,000 people
2. Corinth: 4,673
3. Lucedale: 4,494
What are the safest cities in Mississippi?
The three cities in Mississippi with the lowest violent crime rates see less than 40 crimes per 100,000 people per year, according to the SafeHome report.
These are the Mississippi cities with the lowest violent crime rates, according to SafeHome:
1. Long Beach: 17 violent crimes per 100,000 people
2. Waveland: 29
3. Flowood: 37
These Mississippi cities have the lowest property crime rates, according to SafeHome:
1. Brandon: 342 property crimes per 100,000 people
2. Florence: 377
3. Petal: 379
One of the fastest growing cities in the state, Brandon, has been ranked as one of the top 10 best places to live in Mississippi, according to SafeHome. The city, located about 10-miles outside of Jackson, also was listed among Forbes’ top 100 small towns in America, according to the study.
How does crime in Jackson compare?
Jackson didn’t rank among the least safe cities in Mississippi, but the city still heavily influences the state’s average crime rates, according to SafeHome.
The city has more violent crime per capita than the rest of the state, according to the study.
According to Mississippi Crime Statistics, there have been 420 recorded violent crimes in Hinds County — where Jackson is located — this year, about a 1,067% increase compared to 2024.
In 2025, there have been 17 more murders, 24 non-consensual sex offenses, 70 more robberies and 273 more aggravated assaults when compared to 2024.
Violent crime, property rates decrease, remain above national average
In Mississippi, crime rates were being recorded at significantly higher rates over the last decade, but the rates decreased between 2022 and 2023, according to the SafeHome study.
Violent crime rates decreased by 17% and property crime rates decreased by 9%, experts said.
While this shows slight improvement, crime rates in the Magnolia State remain higher than the national average, according to the study.
How did home security website rank cities?
SafeHome used FBI crime data from 2023 compiled by the agency’s Crime Data Explorer to rank dangerous and safe Mississippi cities, according to the report.
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
