The City of St. Louis is on pace to reach 105 homicides, a number that would be the second fewest in 51 years. Before 2003 (74 homicides), one has to look back to 1962's 92 murders to find a lower total. Of course in 1962 there were approximately 725,000 city residents, or 227% of today's total. A more relevant number is likely the homicide rate, which at 105 homicides in a city of ~315,000 people would be 33/100,000. That rate would be higher than 1967's 217 murders, and higher than 10 other years since 1962. Or perhaps it's the trend that matters. Over the past decade, the homicide rate climbed to a peak of 51.4/100,000 in 2008 and has since dropped to the same level seen in the late 1990's and early 2000's.
In addition, from our count, the 70 recorded murders spanned 33 of the city's 79 neighborhoods. Neighborhood populations vary greatly, from more than 14,000 in the city's Central West End (roughly the same population as Clayton), to fewer than 200 in King's Oak. The following neighborhoods did not record a homicide in the first nine months of 2013: Benton Park, Benton Park West, Botanical Heights, Boulevard Heights, Carr Square, Central West End, Cheltenham, Clayton-Tamm, Clifton Heights, Compton Heights, Covenant Blu/Grand Center, Downtown West, Ellendale, Forest Park Southeast, Fountain Park, Franz Park, Hi-Pointe, Holly Hills, Hyde Park, Kingsway East, Kosckiusko, La Salle, Lafayette Square, Lewis Place, Marine Villa, Mount Pleasant, North Hampton, North Riverfront, Old North St. Louis, Patch, Peabody-Darst-Webbe, Princeton Heights, Shaw, Skinker-DeBaliviere, Soulard, South Hampton, Southwest Garden, St. Louis Hills, St. Louis Place, The Gate District, The Hill, Tiffany, Tower Grove South, Vandeventer, Visitation Park and Wydown-Skinker.
The 2012 month-to-month and total numbers:
