Top 83 Most Dangerous Cities in Connecticut 2024 (FBI Data)

Quick answer

According to crimebycity.com's analysis of FBI 2024 crime data, the most dangerous city in Connecticut is New Haven, CT with a total crime rate of 4,123.3 per 100,000 residents. These 83 cities average 1,395 per 100,000 — 0.5x the national average of 2,752.

Crime Hotspots in Connecticut (2024)

These 83 cities reported the highest crime rates in Connecticut. On average, they experience 0.5x the national crime rate, with violent crime averaging 93 per 100,000 (national average: 473).

New Haven, CT tops the list with a total crime rate of 4,123 per 100,000 — 1.5x the national average. Its violent crime rate of 536 per 100K is 1.1x the national average.

Key Findings: 2024 Highest Crime Rates

The city with the highest crime rate in Connecticut, New Haven, CT, reports 4,123 crimes per 100K residents — 1.5x the national average. The city ranked #83 on this list, Wolcott (CT), has a rate of 201, still significantly above the national average of 2,752.

Both violent and property crime contribute to these elevated rates. The average murder rate across these cities is 1.3 per 100K (0.2x national average), while property crime averages 1,303 per 100K. In many of these cities, property crime accounts for the majority of total offenses, though the violent crime rate draws the most attention.

It's important to note that citywide statistics can be misleading. Crime is rarely distributed evenly — most cities have neighborhoods that are quite safe alongside areas with concentrated challenges. A high citywide rate doesn't mean every resident faces equal risk. Individual city pages provide additional context including year-over-year trends.

On our Safety Score scale (1–100, where 50 is the national average), these cities average 63/100, with the highest-crime city scoring 8/100. These scores reflect the combined impact of both violent and property crime relative to national norms. Cities with scores below 20 have crime rates more than 1.6 times the national average.

Understanding These Crime Rates

The 83 cities with the highest crime rates in Connecticut average 1,395 total crimes per 100,000 residents — 0.5x the national average of 2,752. Violent crime is particularly elevated at 93 per 100K, which is 0.2x the national violent crime rate.

The median city on this list — Middletown, CT — reports a crime rate of 1,212 per 100K. 65 of these cities have populations under 50,000, where even a small number of incidents can significantly affect the per-capita rate.

Context matters when interpreting these numbers. High crime rates often correlate with socioeconomic factors including poverty, unemployment, and inequality rather than reflecting the character of residents. Crime reporting practices also vary — cities with well-funded police departments tend to record more incidents. CT has 83 cities on this list.

Full Rankings

#	City	State	Coverage	Total Crime Rate	Violent Crime Rate	Murder Rate	vs National
1	New Haven	CT	137,243	4,123.3	536.3	10.9	+50%
2	Hamden	CT	59,908	3,548.8	430.7	1.7	+29%
3	Orange	CT	14,352	3,546.5	41.8	0.0	+29%
4	Hartford	CT	119,626	3,362.2	516.6	17.6	+22%
5	Waterbury	CT	115,363	3,241.1	322.5	6.9	+18%
6	Derby	CT	12,437	2,862.4	313.6	0.0	+4%
7	West Hartford	CT	64,093	2,795.9	64.0	0.0	+2%
8	North Haven	CT	24,340	2,662.3	37.0	0.0	+-3%
9	East Windsor	CT	11,179	2,621.0	62.6	0.0	+-5%
10	Bloomfield	CT	22,032	2,405.6	108.9	4.5	+-13%
11	Trumbull	CT	37,492	2,376.5	104.0	0.0	+-14%
12	New Britain	CT	74,528	2,346.8	421.3	4.0	+-15%
13	Clinton	CT	13,481	2,307.0	74.2	0.0	+-16%
14	Manchester	CT	59,378	2,248.3	133.1	0.0	+-18%
15	Newington	CT	31,504	2,212.4	76.2	0.0	+-20%
16	Milford	CT	53,065	2,212.4	116.8	1.9	+-20%
17	Stratford	CT	52,531	2,052.1	66.6	0.0	+-25%
18	East Haven	CT	27,447	2,051.2	98.4	0.0	+-25%
19	Enfield	CT	40,659	2,034.0	162.3	0.0	+-26%
20	Cromwell	CT	14,411	1,970.7	83.3	6.9	+-28%
21	Bridgeport	CT	148,132	1,863.2	394.2	8.1	+-32%
22	Windsor	CT	29,382	1,817.4	61.3	3.4	+-34%
23	Meriden	CT	59,943	1,816.7	128.5	1.7	+-34%
24	East Hartford	CT	50,584	1,759.5	89.0	5.9	+-36%
25	Branford	CT	28,000	1,717.9	46.4	0.0	+-38%
26	Waterford	CT	19,913	1,702.4	25.1	0.0	+-38%
27	Old Saybrook	CT	10,606	1,697.2	75.4	0.0	+-38%
28	New London	CT	27,848	1,594.4	201.1	0.0	+-42%
29	Norwalk	CT	92,987	1,591.6	87.1	0.0	+-42%
30	Southington	CT	43,849	1,580.4	66.1	0.0	+-43%
31	Plainville	CT	17,504	1,576.8	68.6	0.0	+-43%
32	Farmington	CT	26,852	1,560.4	26.1	0.0	+-43%
33	Danbury	CT	86,257	1,518.7	262.0	0.0	+-45%
34	Berlin	CT	20,529	1,500.3	92.6	0.0	+-45%
35	Ansonia	CT	19,049	1,475.1	68.3	5.3	+-46%
36	Norwich	CT	39,832	1,466.2	205.9	0.0	+-47%
37	Wethersfield	CT	27,073	1,429.5	59.1	0.0	+-48%
38	Stamford	CT	136,483	1,383.3	158.3	0.7	+-50%
39	West Haven	CT	54,598	1,342.5	104.4	3.7	+-51%
40	Rocky Hill	CT	20,692	1,309.7	77.3	0.0	+-52%
41	South Windsor	CT	26,741	1,237.8	37.4	0.0	+-55%
42	Middletown	CT	48,331	1,212.5	62.1	2.1	+-56%
43	Watertown	CT	22,337	1,164.0	13.4	0.0	+-58%
44	Westport	CT	27,606	1,133.8	3.6	0.0	+-59%
45	Torrington	CT	35,612	1,120.4	81.4	0.0	+-59%
46	Windsor Locks	CT	12,513	1,086.9	87.9	0.0	+-61%
47	Groton Town	CT	27,927	1,081.4	93.1	3.6	+-61%
48	Darien	CT	22,216	1,080.3	31.5	0.0	+-61%
49	Naugatuck	CT	31,930	1,071.1	50.1	0.0	+-61%
50	Vernon	CT	30,738	1,070.3	45.6	0.0	+-61%
51	Bristol	CT	61,895	1,016.2	58.2	3.2	+-63%
52	Glastonbury	CT	35,249	990.1	28.4	0.0	+-64%
53	Willimantic	CT	18,393	989.5	174.0	0.0	+-64%
54	Guilford	CT	22,021	953.6	27.3	0.0	+-65%
55	Stonington	CT	18,469	925.9	65.0	0.0	+-66%
56	Winchester	CT	10,247	917.3	68.3	0.0	+-67%
57	Greenwich	CT	63,651	876.7	9.4	0.0	+-68%
58	New Canaan	CT	20,973	786.7	9.5	0.0	+-71%
59	Shelton	CT	42,616	750.9	42.2	0.0	+-73%
60	North Branford	CT	13,385	717.2	14.9	0.0	+-74%
61	Suffield	CT	15,641	652.1	25.6	0.0	+-76%
62	Avon	CT	18,886	651.3	21.2	0.0	+-76%
63	Wilton	CT	18,398	646.8	16.3	0.0	+-76%
64	Seymour	CT	17,034	622.3	47.0	0.0	+-77%
65	Simsbury	CT	25,108	589.5	15.9	4.0	+-79%
66	Brookfield	CT	17,496	588.7	57.2	0.0	+-79%
67	Canton	CT	10,166	580.4	39.4	0.0	+-79%
68	New Milford	CT	28,377	567.4	28.2	0.0	+-79%
69	Granby	CT	11,371	562.8	26.4	0.0	+-80%
70	Coventry	CT	12,338	559.3	81.1	0.0	+-80%
71	Monroe	CT	18,852	541.1	21.2	0.0	+-80%
72	Bethel	CT	20,799	538.5	9.6	0.0	+-80%
73	Plymouth	CT	11,806	499.8	8.5	0.0	+-82%
74	Wallingford	CT	43,561	468.3	18.4	4.6	+-83%
75	East Hampton	CT	13,090	443.1	22.9	0.0	+-84%
76	East Lyme	CT	19,094	424.2	10.5	5.2	+-85%
77	Cheshire	CT	29,399	398.0	13.6	0.0	+-86%
78	Newtown	CT	27,890	369.3	17.9	0.0	+-87%
79	Madison	CT	17,458	309.3	17.2	0.0	+-89%
80	Ridgefield	CT	24,924	304.9	24.1	4.0	+-89%
81	Weston	CT	10,353	222.2	0.0	0.0	+-92%
82	Plainfield	CT	15,265	203.1	78.6	0.0	+-93%
83	Wolcott	CT	16,379	201.5	24.4	0.0	+-93%

More Rankings

Safest cities in Connecticut Connecticut crime overview — all cities Most dangerous cities in Rhode Island Most dangerous cities in Massachusetts Most dangerous cities in New York Most dangerous cities in America

How These Rankings Are Calculated

These rankings are based on data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, which collects crime statistics from law enforcement agencies nationwide. We use the most recent available data (2024) and include only cities with a population of 25,000 or more to ensure statistical reliability — small towns with very few incidents can produce misleadingly extreme rates.

Cities are ranked by total crime rate per 100,000 residents, which combines both violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) and property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson). Using per-capita rates rather than raw counts ensures fair comparison regardless of city size. The 83 cities listed here represent a combined population of 2,981,717 residents.

For a full explanation of our data sources, safety score formula, and methodology, visit our methodology page.

What the Numbers Mean

Crime statistics can be difficult to interpret without context. A total crime rate of 2,000 per 100,000 means that in a city of 100,000 people, approximately 2,000 crimes were reported to police in a given year. This includes everything from petty theft to violent assault. Not all crimes are reported, so actual rates may be higher — the FBI estimates that roughly half of violent crimes and a third of property crimes go unreported.

For the highest-crime cities on this list, the average total crime rate of 1,395 per 100K means roughly 1.4% of the population experiences a reported crime annually. The violent crime rate of 93 per 100K translates to about 0.1% of residents — or roughly 1 in 1,079 — though crime is not evenly distributed across neighborhoods.

Our Safety Score simplifies these numbers into a single 1–100 scale. A score of 50 equals the national average, and every 10 points above or below represents a meaningful difference in risk. The score accounts for both violent and property crime, weighted by their per-capita rates against national benchmarks.

When using these rankings for decisions about relocation, travel, or investment, consider consulting multiple data points: crime trends over time (available on each city's individual page), the specific types of crime most prevalent in each area, neighborhood-level variation, and quality-of-life factors beyond crime statistics. No single number tells the complete story of any community, but per-capita rates from a verified source like the FBI provide the most objective starting point available.

Violent Crime vs Property Crime

In these 83 highest-crime cities, both violent and property crime exceed national norms substantially. The average violent crime rate of 93 per 100K is 0.2x the national average, while property crime averages 1,303 per 100K. Aggravated assault is typically the most common violent crime, followed by robbery, while larceny-theft dominates property crime categories.

The distinction matters because violent and property crime have different impacts on daily life and different underlying causes. Violent crime tends to concentrate in specific neighborhoods and time periods, often linked to interpersonal disputes, drug markets, or gang activity. Property crime is more widely distributed geographically. Understanding which type of crime drives a city's ranking provides more actionable information than the total rate alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most dangerous city in Connecticut?

New Haven, CT has the highest crime rate in Connecticut at 4,123.3 per 100,000 residents in 2024.

What makes a city dangerous?

High crime rates, particularly violent crime, indicate elevated risk. Cities on this list average a violent crime rate of 93 per 100K — 0.2x the national average of 473.

Is the crime rate getting worse?

Crime trends vary by city. Some cities on this list have seen decreasing rates in recent years while others have increased. Visit individual city pages for year-over-year trend data.

Are these cities always dangerous?

No. Crime rates fluctuate year to year, and many cities on this list have seen improvements over time. These rankings reflect 2024 data specifically. Visit individual city pages to see multi-year trends and whether crime is rising or falling in each location.

What types of crime drive these rankings?

Rankings are based on total crime rate, which includes both violent and property crime. Among these 83 cities, the average violent crime rate is 93 per 100K (0.2x the national average) and the average property crime rate is 1,303 per 100K. Property crime is typically more common, but violent crime carries greater weight in public perception.

How 2024 Compares to Previous Years

High-crime cities often show more volatility in their year-to-year statistics than the national average. Some cities on this list have seen significant improvements in recent years due to targeted policing strategies, community investment programs, or economic development. Others continue to face persistent challenges. National trends in violent crime, drug trafficking, and economic inequality all influence which cities appear on this list from year to year.

To see whether a specific city on this list is improving or worsening, click its name in the table above to view detailed trend charts covering multiple years. A city with a high current rate but a strong downward trend tells a very different story than one with a rising trajectory. We encourage using these trends alongside the current snapshot when forming conclusions about any community's safety profile.

Geographic Distribution

The 83 cities with the highest crime rates span 1 states. CT (83 cities). The concentration of high-crime cities in certain states often reflects broader regional challenges including economic inequality, urbanization patterns, and historical factors.

City sizes on this list vary considerably, from smaller cities around 25,000 to major metros. 65 cities have populations under 50,000, where a relatively small number of incidents can disproportionately affect per-capita rates. The combined population of these 83 cities is 2,981,717.

Most Dangerous Cities in Connecticut