Evansville & Boonville Among the 10 Most Dangerous Cities in IN

A recent study was conducted ranking the ten most dangerous cities in Indiana for 2022, and you might be surprised by this list.

When you think of Indiana overall, you don't really associate it with crime. Sure, criminal acts happen all of the time, but that's not typically the stereotype that goes with Indiana. I mean Indiana isn't even one of the top ten most dangerous states in the country. That being said, the website RoadSnacks.net recently broke down the most dangerous cities in each state, and the results for Indiana might surprise you.

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10 Most Dangerous Cities In Indiana

Before we go into this list, it is important to first know how RoadSnacks.net found its results. According to the website:

In total, we analyzed 59 cities. We looked at the FBI's latest crime report for violent crime and property crime statistics for every place with over 5,000 residents. We discovered that Indiana's overall violent and property crime numbers, while above the national average, the numbers in the state's most dangerous places could be better. And if you guessed that most of The Hoosier State's crime is centered around the state's biggest cities, you guessed right. Cities like Indianapolis and Evansville are being hit pretty hard with high unemployment, low wages, and high crime.

So, now that we have that piece of information, let's take a look at RoadSnacks.net's 10 most dangerous cities in Indiana for 2022:

You can click on each city to learn more about their crime, but let's talk about the elephants in the room here. Not one but TWO cities in our area made this list. Evansville and Boonville.

Ryan O'Bryan

I'm baffled by that too, but here's what RoadSnacks first said about Evansville:

Indiana's third-biggest city, Evansville, goes by "Pocket City." However, we think that "Pickpocket City" would be a more apt nickname, given that Evansville had 3,188 larceny cases in 2020.Overall, Evansville residents had a 1 in 27 chance of being the victim of a property crime over the year. So definitely keep your winnings quiet after a big night out at <a href="https://www.tropevansville.com/casino">Tropicana Casino</a>.Unfortunately, it's not just small-time crime in Evansville -- the city also had the third highest rate of rape cases in Indiana.

As we all know, there seems to have been an uptick in the number of violent crimes in Evansville as of late. The Evansville Police Department recently commented on that and what they are doing within the community to help prevent these violent crimes:

Boonville on the other hand is a head-scratcher. I have lived there most of my life and it's far from a dangerous city. RoadSnacks says:

Let's pretend we're writing an 8th grade term paper. Webster's dictionary defines "boon" as "a think that is helpful or beneficial." Well, then, Boonville must be a great place to live. Nothing but boons here, right?Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. If the town leaders were honest, they'd change the name to "Crimeville." After all, it ranks as the number 10 most dangerous location in Indiana. This largely comes about because a high rate of violent crimes, with 48 such violations in a population of just 6,200.

According to their findings, Boonville is a "dangerous" city. However, I have a feeling that there are far more dangerous cities such as Gary, Indiana that could have taken that spot. It appears that these cities are ranked per capita, not per number of violent crimes. That makes a little more sense. However, I find it hard to believe that the quiet town of Boonville would make this list either way.

Google Maps

In any event, I wouldn't let these findings deter you from visiting Boonville or Evansville. Both cities have so much to offer folks in the area. If you want to find out more about this study and why each city made this list, you can do so by visiting the article here.

40 Real Indiana Towns with Quirky, Weird, and Funny Names

Outside the major cities, the Hoosier state is full of tiny little towns you've probably passed through on your way to one of those cities. Most of them are likely 100 to 150 years old, or older, and have been around far longer than the large metropolitan areas such as Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Evansville. Typically, they were started by early settlers who found their way to the state and decided to make it home. Eventually, others would join them, and a community was formed. Over time, as the surrounding areas grew, most of them were folded into those areas and governed by the nearest city or county's governing body officially making them "unincorporated," meaning they did not have their own formally organized municipal government.

A scroll through Wikipedia's long list of unincorporated communities in Indiana shows several of them have names that by today's standards would be considered weird, quirky, or just downright right funny. These are my 40 favorities.