Wilmington ended up 27th on a list of the nation’s 100 most violent cities with Delaware neighbor Elkton ending up in the 24th position.
The report was released by the National Council for Home Safety and Security and ranked cities by violent crime rate. East St. Louis, IL ranked first
Click here for the ranking by city.
Among other cities in the region, Chester, PA ranked 14th, with Elkton, MD making the top 25. Elkton, which is a short drive away from Newark and the Bear-Glasgow area in Delaware, has struggled with high addiction, unemployment and poverty rates.
Employment figures have improved as warehouse and other jobs move into northeastern Maryland. However, many of the jobs are outside Elkton in the
Darby Borough near Philadelphia ranked second on the top 100. Darby’s violent crime rate is roughly double Wilmington’s figure.
Baltimore ranked 50th, with Salisbury, MD at 99. Philadelphia, which has made long-term progress in cutting its crime rate, was not on the list. Also not on the list was Chicago, which has a high rate of violent crime that has long garnered national attention.
On the plus side, Wilmington reported an eight percent drop in violent crime.
Earlier this week, city officials reported a sharp drop in violent crime in the early months of 2018, but cautioned that the situation could change. A spike in gun violence can quickly change violent crime statistics in smaller cities.
The council saw less of a relationship between stiff gun laws and the crime rate, but saw a ties between poverty, the lack of employment prospects and other socio-economic factors.
The report noted that East St. Louis has long suffered from high poverty rates, a lack of jobs and industry that moved out of the city.
