Even though Chicago has more murders each year than Los Angeles and New York put together, the city’s per capita homicide rate is half St. Louis’ rate. Chicago also falls well behind cities like New Orleans, Baltimore and Detroit. Source
Chicago: More People Killed Than NYC and LA Put Together, But Still Twice As Safe As St.L.
St. Louis City proper is a wasteland. Even the nicer areas inside the city borders are going downhill- the governor’s wife was mugged in the Central West End (the nicest part of the city) last year. The surrounding county on the other hand is mostly fine, especially the west and south county.
The city statistics are skewed because the city’s legal borders were locked in the early 20th century and unlike other cities it could not expand geographically as people fled outward. What is left there is a rump population of the most impoverished and dependent people from the whole metro area. Talking about St. Louis City per capita crime is like talking about Chicago per capita crime while only counting the population of the worst neighborhoods.