"US Murder Rate Third in the World, 189th Without Five Cities": Viral Image Checked Against FBI and UN Data
A bilingual image is circulating in Chinese communities. The original English card says the US has the 3rd highest murder rate in the world; that if you remove Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, St. Louis and Philadelphia, the US is then 189th out of 193 countries in the world; and that all five cities have strict gun control laws and are controlled by Democrats. The card ends with the words "Fact-check it." This article takes up that invitation, checking each claim against public data from the FBI and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
1. "Third-highest murder rate": about 50th by rate, about 6th by total count
Two different measures need to be separated first. The homicide "rate" is the number of intentional killings per 100,000 residents — a proportion. The "total" is the absolute number of cases. The card's English text says "murder rate."
According to UNODC data distributed through the World Bank database, the US intentional homicide rate in 2023 was 5.76 per 100,000 people, with 19,412 victims. Nearly 50 countries and territories record higher rates (each at its most recent available year): Jamaica is highest at 49.4 per 100,000, about 8.6 times the US figure, followed by Ecuador at 45.7, South Africa at 43.7, Haiti at 41.1, Honduras at 31.4, Mexico at 24.9 and Brazil at 19.3. Setting aside smaller economies and counting only larger countries, the US ranks around 35th; counting every territory in the dataset, it ranks around 50th. By neither count is it 3rd.
Even by totals, the US is not third. In the same dataset, Brazil recorded about 40,698 intentional homicides in 2023, India about 40,130 in 2022, Nigeria about 35,884 in 2023, Mexico about 32,252 in 2023 and South Africa about 27,272 in 2022 — all ahead of the US figure of 19,412, which puts the US around sixth.
2. The five cities account for about 8% of US murders
According to the FBI's Crime in the United States, 2024, an estimated 16,935 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters occurred nationwide in 2024, a rate of 5.0 per 100,000 people.
The five city police departments reported these 2024 figures: Chicago 573, Philadelphia 269, Detroit 203, Washington DC 187 and St. Louis 151 — a total of 1,383, about 8.2% of the national figure. Definitions differ slightly between departments (St. Louis, for example, excludes killings determined to be justifiable), but the order of magnitude is clear: the five cities together account for under one in ten US murders.
3. Running the card's own math: removing the five cities takes the rate from 5.0 to about 4.7
Subtract 1,383 from 16,935 and 15,552 murders remain; remove the five cities' roughly 5.9 million residents from the national population of about 340 million at the same time, and the US murder rate falls from 5.0 to about 4.7 per 100,000.
Against the UN list, a rate of 4.7 would still leave nearly 50 countries and territories ahead — a ranking around 50th, only a few places better than today. What would 189th place require? A rate below roughly 0.3 per 100,000: Japan records 0.2 and Singapore about 0.1. Reaching that level would mean cutting US murders from about 17,000 to around 1,000. Removing five cities that account for 8% leaves the figure about 16 times too high.
4. The five cities' homicide rates are genuinely high: this part has a factual basis
The five cities named on the card do record homicide rates far above the national level. Based on 2024 figures: St. Louis about 54 per 100,000, among the highest of any large US city; Detroit about 32; Washington DC about 27; Chicago about 21; Philadelphia about 17 — roughly 11, 6, 5, 4 and 3 times the national rate of 5.0. All five also fell sharply in 2024: Philadelphia by about 35%, Washington DC by about 32%, Detroit by about 19%, St. Louis to its lowest level since 2013, and Chicago by about 8%.
5. "All five cities have the strictest gun laws": checked one by one, this does not hold
Gun laws in the US are set mainly at the state level (and by the District itself in Washington DC's case). Using the Giffords Law Center's 2025 Annual Gun Law Scorecard, which grades states from A to F on the strength of their laws:
Illinois, home to Chicago, earns an A — the strictest tier — with a firearms owner identification (FOID) system, background checks on purchases and a ban on assault weapons since 2023. Washington DC requires purchase permits and gun registration and bans assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, placing it in the strictest tier as well.
The other three are not in that tier. Michigan (Detroit) earns a B−, mid-pack nationally. Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) earns a B, also mid-pack, and Pennsylvania state law bars cities from passing their own gun laws, so Philadelphia could not adopt stricter rules at city level even if it wished. Missouri (St. Louis) earns an F, ranking 46th of the 50 states for legal strength — among the loosest in the country: since 2017 no permit has been required to carry a firearm there, and state law likewise bars local governments from adding stricter rules. The five cities' states span the full range from strictest to loosest, so "all five strictest" does not match the public record.
On "controlled by Democrats": in 2024 the mayors of Chicago (Brandon Johnson), Detroit (Mike Duggan), Washington DC (Muriel Bowser), St. Louis (Tishaura Jones) and Philadelphia (Cherelle Parker) were all Democrats, which matches the public record. Whether a mayor's party has any causal bearing on a city's homicide rate is not a question public data alone can answer, and this article draws no such conclusion.
Sorting the findings into three groups
Three claims do not check out: "third-highest murder rate" — about 50th by rate and about 6th by total count; "189th without five cities" — the five cities account for about 8% of murders, and removing them leaves a rate of about 4.7 and a ranking still around 50th; and "all five have the strictest gun laws" — Missouri is among the loosest states in the country, with Michigan and Pennsylvania mid-pack.
Two elements have a factual basis: the five cities' homicide rates are indeed far above the national level, with St. Louis at about 11 times the US rate; and all five mayors in 2024 were Democrats.
This article checks the public numbers only — which figures hold and which do not. Causes and judgments beyond the data are outside what these numbers can answer.
Source: GSM · USA
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：在华人社群流传的图片，上为中文转述、下为英文原卡，卡上称美国谋杀率居世界第三、去掉五座城市后在193个国家中排第189位。 / The image circulating in Chinese communities: a Chinese paraphrase above and the original English card below, claiming the US murder rate ranks third in the world and 189th out of 193 countries without five cities.
