Florida Crime Rate By City 2024 – Latest Statistics

Florida has long stood as a beacon for retirees, vacationing families, and sport fishermen, among others. With so many people coming into our great state, it’s natural that many are looking for up-to-date answers to their questions about the Florida crime rate by city. This information can be crucial for planning trips, purchasing a new home, or just generally staying safe and informed while in The Sunshine State.

Understanding 2024 Florida Crime Rates

It’s important to note that when we talk about the most up-to-date crime statistics available for 2024, we’re talking about the most recent data that is complete, verified, and published. Quality data, like anything else worthwhile, can take time and resources to produce.

Despite advancements in crime-tracking technology, live data for the year in progress is not yet available. Considering this lag, we’re mostly looking at the complete statistics from recent years like 2022 or 2020.

In addition to understanding this delay, it’s also important to understand the basics of how crime rates are calculated and presented. For example, the county with the single most arrests is Miami-Dade, with over 45,000. This might lead one to believe that Miami is the most dangerous–or at least the most criminally active–city in Florida. In some ways, this is true if you’re purely talking about the total number of criminal incidents.

However, crime rates are usually expressed through the lens of population. If we look at the number of arrests per 100,000 residents and check Miami-Dade again, we find it at a rather modest 1,599. In fact, this number is not only low compared to the Florida average of 2,355 arrests for every 100,000 people but also significantly less than the national average of 2,182 arrests per 100,000 people.

Lastly, it’s good to know exactly what sorts of crimes, arrests, or other incidents are actually being counted in any attempt to calculate crime rates. While “crime rate” is a generic term that could refer to any sort of illicit activity, this sort of data usually focuses on serious, violent offenses. With all of that in mind, let’s move on to looking at some actual Florida crime rates.

Highest Crime Rates in Florida by County

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) provides robust crime rate data on a county-by-county basis, which is currently updated through 2020. Florida counties are not particularly large in the geographic sense, so looking at crime rates at the county level makes it fairly easy to extrapolate which Florida cities might have the highest concentrations of criminal activity.

The Florida counties with the highest concentration of crime include:

1. Bay County, FL – 8,024 arrests per 100,000 residents – The entirety of Bay County is more or less part of the greater Panama City metro area. There were about 14,000 total arrests in 2020, with males arrested at nearly a 3 to 1 rate compared to females.
2. Monroe County, FL – 6,514 arrests per 100,000 residents – Even the beautiful Florida Keys arrayed off the state’s southern tip have their issues with criminality, as evidenced by Monroe County’s elevated arrest rates. The ratio of male to female detainees jumps out in Monroe County’s data: of the 5,000 or so total arrests in 2020, over 4,100 suspects were male.
3. Franklin County, FL – 5,791 arrests per 100,000 residents – This county along Florida’s Gulf Coast only has around 12,000 residents, proving you don’t need a major city to have an issue with elevated crime rates. Close to half of the total arrests in Franklin were categorized as “miscellaneous” in the 2020 FDLE data, meaning that serious, violent crimes are rare here.

Crime Rates in Metropolitan Florida Counties

Since we are specifically looking at cities in today’s blog, let’s zoom in on the Florida counties with a population of over 100,000 people and see which of those have the highest incidences of crime. Populous Florida counties with the highest arrest rates include:

1. Bay County, FL – 8,024 arrests per 100,000 residents – Bay County and the Panama City area have the dubious distinction of topping both our lists today, thanks to a population of nearly 175,000 people and a 2020 arrest rate that easily doubles or triples that of most neighboring municipalities.
2. Okaloosa County, FL – 4,880 arrests per 100,000 residents – This county on the Florida-Alabama border has over 200,000 residents; however, the largest city, Crestview, has fewer than 30,000 total residents, so you would be hard-pressed to call Okaloosa urban or densely populated. As with many other Florida counties, drug offenses by adult males contribute to a significant percentage of total arrests.
3. Volusia County, FL – 3,962 arrests per 100,000 residents – Volusia County is home to vibrant Daytona Beach. Many of the arrests here are fueled by drug activity and assault. Out of more than 5,000 total arrests in 2020, nearly 650 were drug-related.

FAQs

Which City in Florida Has the Highest Crime Rate?

Panama City is likely the city in Florida with the highest crime rate, based on data extrapolated from the 2020 data provided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). However, it’s important to remember that there are many different ways to source, calculate, and analyze crime rates, with the FDLE’s county-by-county arrest statistics representing only one of these tools.

What City in Florida has the Lowest Crime Rate?

Miami is a city in Florida with one of the lowest crime rates despite its late 20th-century reputation as a den of crime and imported drugs. Fictional movies and sensationalized TV news largely fueled this concept. In reality, Miami-Dade and Broward counties have some of the lowest per-capita arrest rates in all of Florida, with around 1,500 arrests for every 100,000 people living there.

Where Does Florida Rank in Crime?

Florida ranks relatively high in crime compared to the United States, with a per capita arrest rate of 2,355 per 100,000 residents, compared to the national average of 2,182. It is once again important to remember that crime rates can be gathered and interpreted in many different ways. Most places throughout our beautiful state are quite safe by any standards.

Ruhl & Lux, P.A. – Swift and Effective Help with Florida Criminal Charges

If you’re facing criminal charges in Florida, don’t become another statistic. Enlist powerful legal assistance from the team at Ruhl & Lux, P.A., with offices conveniently located in Port Charlotte and Sarasota, FL. Reach out today to learn more about how we can help. Whether you want to reduce your sentence and avoid jail time through a great plea deal or fight to tell your side of the story in court because you’ve been wrongfully accused, we can help.