St. Louis has a new title it can probably do without. It's been named America's most-dangerous city by a Kansas research and publishing company.

Atlanta is considered the second-most-dangerous city, followed by Detroit; Gary, Ind.; and Baltimore. It's the ninth year the rankings have been conducted. Detroit had been considered the most-dangerous city for the past three years.

"Amherst is stuck to the top of our rankings," said Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press. "But, it is no wonder that the city does so well. With no murders and some of the lowest crime rates in the nation, Amherst easily beat out the other 341 cities in this year's ranking."

Joining Amherst at the top of the Safest City rankings were Brick Township, N.J., Newton, Mass., Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Sunnyvale, Calif.

The rankings are based on an analysis of FBI crime figures. Included in the analysis are six basic crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft. All cities of 75,000 or more populations that reported crime data to the FBI for the six crime categories were included in the rankings.

In addition to ranking the safety of cities, Morgan Quitno also examined crime in metropolitan areas. In those rankings, Danbury, Conn., rose to the top of the list to win this year's Safest Metropolitan Area Award.

But a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis calls the rankings meaningless -- since he said it's impossible to compare cities head-to-head.

The findings of the ninth annual Safest City and Metropolitan Area Awards are announced in City Crime Rankings 9th Edition, an annual reference book from Morgan Quitno Press, which will be available Dec. 10.

Additional information regarding the results is available at MorganQuitno.com The Web site provides methodology and rankings of the top and bottom 25 cities.

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Click Here for the Complete 9th Safest/Most Dangerous City Publication

TOP AND BOTTOM 25 CITIES OVERALL

Find out all 342 cities and 271 metropolitan areas ranked in our 29-page $3.00 pdf instant version of America's Safest (and Most Dangerous) Cities document. Order now and you can immediately download the document to your own computer and read or print using the free Acrobat Reader program. Click here for more details and to see if your city is included.

RANKINGS BY POPULATION GROUP (Top 10/Bottom 10)

500,000+ | 100,000 to 499,999 | 75,000 to 99,999

TOP AND BOTTOM 25 METRO AREAS OVERALL

OVERALL: (342 cities)
SAFEST 25:		MOST DANGEROUS 25:
1	Amherst, NY	1	St. Louis, MO
2	Brick Twnshp, NJ	2	Detroit, MI
3	Newton, MA	3	Atlanta, GA
4	Thousand Oaks, CA	4	Gary, IN
5	Sunnyvale, CA	5	Baltimore, MD
6	Cary, NC	6	Camden, NJ
7	Orem, UT	7	Compton, CA
8	Clarkstown, NY	8	Flint, MI
9	Mission Viejo, CA	9	Tampa, FL
10	Lake Forest, CA	10	Jackson, MS
11	Troy, MI	11	Memphis, TN
12	Irvine, CA	12	New Orleans, LA
13	Colonie, NY	13	Richmond, VA
14	Sterling Heights, MI	14	Washington, DC
15	Dover Twnshp, NJ	15	Dayton, OH
16	Canton Twnshp, MI	16	Newark, NJ
17	Parma, OH	17	Kansas City, MO
18	Greece, NY	18	Trenton, NJ
19	Upper Darby Twnshp, PA	19	Youngstown, OH
20	Danbury, CT	20	West Palm Beach, FL
21	Fremont, CA	21	Miami, FL
22	Cheektowaga Town, NY	22	Cleveland, OH
23	Simi Valley, CA	23	Dallas, TX
24	Santa Clara, CA	24	Chattanooga, TN
25	Farmington Hills, MI	25	Birmingham, AL
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CITIES OF 500,000 OR MORE POPULATION: (30 cities)
Safest 10:		Most Dangerous 10:
1	San Jose, CA	1	Detroit, MI
2	Honolulu, HI	2	Baltimore, MD
3	El Paso, TX	3	Memphis, TN
4	Austin, TX	4	Washington, DC
5	San Diego, CA	5	Dallas, TX
6	New York, NY*	6	Philadelphia, PA
7	San Antonio, TX	7	Nashville, TN
8	Portland, OR	8	Columbus, OH
9	Denver, CO	9	Milwaukee, WI
10	Las Vegas, NV	10	Houston, TX
*New York's ranking calculated without murders of Sept 11th.
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CITIES OF 100,000 TO 499,999 POPULATION: (195 cities)
Safest 10:		Most Dangerous 10:
1	Amherst, NY	1	St. Louis, MO
2	Thousand Oaks, CA	2	Atlanta, GA
3	Sunnyvale, CA	3	Gary, IN
4	Irvine, CA	4	Flint, MI
5	Sterling Heights, MI	5	Tampa, FL
6	Fremont, CA	6	Jackson, MS
7	Simi Valley, CA	7	New Orleans, LA
8	Santa Clara, CA	8	Richmond, VA
9	Arvada, CO	9	Dayton, OH
10	Santa Clarita, CA	10	Newark, NJ
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CITIES OF 75,000 TO 99,999 POPULATION: (117 cities)
Safest 10:		Most Dangerous 10:
1	Brick Twnshp, NJ	1	Camden, NJ
2	Newton, MA	2	Compton, CA
3	Cary, NC	3	Trenton, NJ
4	Orem, UT	4	Youngstown, OH
5	Clarkstown, NY	5	West Palm Beach, FL
6	Mission Viejo, CA	6	Reading, PA
7	Lake Forest, CA	7	Miami Beach, FL
8	Troy, MI	8	Wilmington, NC
9	Colonie, NY	9	Macon, GA
10	Dover Twnshp, NJ	10	Kalamazoo, MI
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(Click here for a full list of Included Metro Areas)

OVERALL (271 METROPOLITAN AREAS):
Safest 25:		Most Dangerous 25:
1	Danbury, CT	1	Memphis, TN-AR-MS
2	Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah, WI	2	Miami, FL
3	Bismarck, ND	3	New Orleans, LA
4	La Crosse, WI-MN	4	Jackson, MS
5	Monmouth-Ocean, NJ	5	Topeka, KS
6	Wausau, WI	6	Flint, MI
7	Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, NJ	7	Savannah, GA
8	Glens Falls, NY	8	Albuquerque, NM
9	Binghamton, NY	9	Baltimore, MD
10	Sheboygan, WI	10	Stockton-Lodi, CA
11	Eau Claire, WI	11	Tallahassee, FL
12	Provo-Orem, UT	12	Sumter, SC
13	Green Bay, WI	13	Fresno, CA
14	State College, PA	14	Jackson, TN
15	Dutchess County, NY	15	Tucson, AZ
16	Johnstown, PA	16	Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
17	Bangor, ME	17	Detroit, MI
18	Corvallis, OR	18	Houston, TX
19	Portsmouth-Rochester, NH-ME	19	Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
20	Pittsfield, MA	20	Dallas, TX
21	Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR	21	Nashville, TN
22	Portland, ME	22	Florence, SC
23	Burlington, VT	23	Las Vegas, NV-AZ
24	Florence, AL	24	Gainesville, FL
25	Lafayette, IN	25	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
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