Twelve U.S. cities, all led by Democrats, broke annual homicide records in 2021

Twelve U.S. cities broke annual homicide records in 2021 — and all were led by Democrats.

Philadelphia topped the list, surpassing 500 murders as of Nov. 26 — breaking last year's numbers with a month left to go in the year. The last time there were this many people killed in the City of Brotherly Love was in 1990.

Rounding out the top five are Indianapolis with 246 killed, Columbus with 179, Louisville with 175, and Baton Rouge with 137.

Philadelphia, with a population of roughly 1.5 million, reached 521 homicides by Dec. 6, an increase of 13% from the previous year. By comparison, New York, with roughly 8 million residents, had 443 homicides as of Dec. 5.
Others in the dirty dozen were: Albuquerque (82 murdered), Tucson (80), Portland (72), Rochester (71), Toledo (62), Austin (60), and St. Paul (35).