According to the FBI’s latest state-wide statistics, violent crime rose just under 1 percent nationally in 2012, although the trend has been a steady decline for the past 20 years. Crime peaked in the late 1980s, fueled by the crack cocaine epidemic, 24/7 Wall Street reports. Experts have pointed to better policing, changes in demographics, higher incarceration rates, a drop in cocaine use and the introduction of social programs as reasons for the decline.

However, that decline has not been uniform. Some large cities, such New York City and Washington, DC, have seen marked improvement, while cities with economic and racial segregation – Baltimore or Detroit, for example – have seen less impressive mobility.

The more the population is integrated, the greater the chance of sizable crime declines, the article says.

While these rankings do not account for many different factors – grouping crime by state can be simplistic and ignore factors that influence crime, the FBI warns – many states with the highest and lowest rates have remained consistent for many years.

Top 10 States for Violent Crime