KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Five killings in Kansas City during Christmas week brought the 2021 total to 156, making it the second-deadliest year on record for Missouri’s biggest city.
Only last year was worse, when Kansas City had 182 homicides, the Kansas City Star reported. This year topped the 155 killings that occurred in 2017.
The entire Kansas City metropolitan area, including the Kansas suburbs, has seen 215 homicides in 2021.
Mayor Quinton Lucas, on Twitter, said the city will “never stop trying” to reduce the number of killings, calling it Kansas City’s “greatest challenge.”
If the total remains unchanged, Kansas City would end 2021 with a homicide rate of 30.7 per 100,000 people.
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The city of St. Louis, which has recorded 189 homicides as of Monday, is on track to end 2021 with a homicide rate of at least 62.7 per 100,000.
Like Kansas City, homicides in St. Louis are down compared to 2020. St. Louis had 263 homicides in 2020; its rate set a record.
Editor’s note: An earlier version incorrectly had the homicide rate as percentages.
HOMICIDES IN ST. LOUIS, 1970-2022
Because the total number of homicides in the city of St. Louis hit a historic high in 1993 and the city’s population remains well below its peak in 1950 (and lower than any decade since 1860), the homicide rate recorded in 2020 was the highest in at least 150 years, and likely the highest-ever in St. Louis history.
* Updated on Jan. 7, 2023. Number, which may be revised, does not include homicides deemed “justifiable.”
** Rate is based on the 2021 population estimate. The 2022 estimate has not been released.
Sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives; St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department; U.S. Census.
| YEAR | POPULATION | HOMICIDES | RATE PER 100K |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 622,236 | 266 | 42.7 |
| 1971 | 602,600 | 220 | 36.5 |
| 1972 | 579,600 | 205 | 35.4 |
| 1973 | 539,300 | 215 | 39.9 |
| 1974 | 530,800 | 202 | 38.1 |
| 1975 | 514,000 | 241 | 46.9 |
| 1976 | 505,300 | 224 | 44.3 |
| 1977 | 486,800 | 195 | 40.1 |
| 1978 | 470,900 | 211 | 44.8 |
| 1979 | 457,500 | 265 | 57.9 |
| 1980 | 450,790 | 225 | 49.9 |
| 1981 | 454,166 | 264 | 58.1 |
| 1982 | 455,362 | 226 | 49.6 |
| 1983 | 457,262 | 152 | 33.2 |
| 1984 | 442,528 | 128 | 28.9 |
| 1985 | 431,109 | 169 | 39.2 |
| 1986 | 434,298 | 195 | 44.9 |
| 1987 | 429,414 | 153 | 35.6 |
| 1988 | 425,187 | 140 | 32.9 |
| 1989 | 405,066 | 158 | 39.0 |
| 1990 | 396,685 | 177 | 44.6 |
| 1991 | 399,858 | 260 | 65.0 |
| 1992 | 402,573 | 231 | 57.4 |
| 1993 | 387,053 | 267 | 69.0 |
| 1994 | 390,437 | 248 | 63.5 |
| 1995 | 371,425 | 204 | 54.9 |
| 1996 | 374,041 | 166 | 44.4 |
| 1997 | 377,221 | 153 | 40.6 |
| 1998 | 344,153 | 113 | 32.8 |
| 1999 | 340,836 | 130 | 38.1 |
| 2000 | 348,189 | 123 | 35.3 |
| 2001 | 350,336 | 148 | 42.2 |
| 2002 | 353,004 | 113 | 32.0 |
| 2003 | 340,256 | 74 | 21.7 |
| 2004 | 335,143 | 114 | 34.0 |
| 2005 | 346,005 | 131 | 37.9 |
| 2006 | 346,879 | 129 | 37.2 |
| 2007 | 348,197 | 138 | 39.6 |
| 2008 | 356,204 | 167 | 46.9 |
| 2009 | 355,208 | 143 | 40.3 |
| 2010 | 355,151 | 144 | 40.5 |
| 2011 | 320,454 | 113 | 35.3 |
| 2012 | 318,667 | 113 | 35.5 |
| 2013 | 318,416 | 120 | 37.7 |
| 2014 | 318,574 | 159 | 49.9 |
| 2015 | 317,095 | 188 | 59.3 |
| 2016 | 314,507 | 188 | 59.8 |
| 2017 | 308,636 | 205 | 66.4 |
| 2018 | 302,838 | 186 | 61.4 |
| 2019 | 300,576 | 194 | 64.5 |
| 2020 | 301,578 | 263 | 87.2 |
| 2021 | 293,310 | 200 | 68.2 |
| 2022 | n/a | 200 * | 68.2 ** |
