Interesting! But I took a closer look at the source behind those statistics and it's consistent with the California data I posted.
It turns out there are seven states with very dangerous metro areas (Missouri, Illinois, Maryland, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) and eight states with dangerous metro areas (South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Nevada). The remaining states are much safer, with metro rates comparable to the nationwide nonmetro average.
Some of that matches with the conventional wisdom (e.g. Chicago is dangerous), but I think those nationwide statistics are quite deceptive. I think it's quite interesting that a California metro area is safer than a California nonmetro area, and both are nearly twice as safe as a Louisiana metro.
It turns out there are seven states with very dangerous metro areas (Missouri, Illinois, Maryland, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) and eight states with dangerous metro areas (South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Nevada). The remaining states are much safer, with metro rates comparable to the nationwide nonmetro average.
Some of that matches with the conventional wisdom (e.g. Chicago is dangerous), but I think those nationwide statistics are quite deceptive. I think it's quite interesting that a California metro area is safer than a California nonmetro area, and both are nearly twice as safe as a Louisiana metro.
Take a look at these charts I generated: https://ibb.co/album/LztM7j . You can reproduce them with this saved CDC WONDER request: https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/saved/D140/D307F000