Plano's remarkably low homicide rate (Dallas, San Antonio: 2015, violent crime, suburb)

[Walter Benjamin]

This story ranks U.S. cities over 200,000 people by their reported homicide rate in 2020 so far.

story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/u...on-debate.html

data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing


At the very bottom of the list is Plano, with a rate of 0.5 per 100,000 people. (One homicide in 2019, and one homicide so far in 2020).


For comparison, selected cities ranked by homicides per 100K people in 2020:

0.5 Plano
5.0 Austin
7.0 Arlington
7.7 Fort Worth
8.1 OKC
9.1 San Antonio
11.6 Lubbock
16.2 Dallas
20.0 Tulsa
46.4 New Orleans
47.6 Detroit
55.8 Baltimore
90.4 St. Louis


no data? El Paso

[Beardown91737]

Depends on the year. Some years, Plano is above the national average for homicide.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Beardown91737

Depends on the year. Some years, Plano is above the national average for homicide.

Plano's murder/homicide rate was just over the national average in 2017 but well below the national average every other year since 2000 and probably many years other years further back.

Plano had one homicide in '19 and one so far in '20 as noted by the OP.

Plano is very safe.

[TheOverdog]

Plano's murder/homicide rate was just over the national average in 2017

Plano had a mass shooting event in 2017- 8 people were killed.


There was also one other murder (I think) that has been solved.

[biafra4life]

Originally Posted by Walter Benjamin

This story ranks U.S. cities over 200,000 people by their reported homicide rate in 2020 so far.

story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/u...on-debate.html

data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing


At the very bottom of the list is Plano, with a rate of 0.5 per 100,000 people. (One homicide in 2019, and one homicide so far in 2020).


For comparison, selected cities ranked by homicides per 100K people in 2020:

0.5 Plano
5.0 Austin
7.0 Arlington
7.7 Fort Worth
8.1 OKC
9.1 San Antonio
11.6 Lubbock
16.2 Dallas
20.0 Tulsa
46.4 New Orleans
47.6 Detroit
55.8 Baltimore
90.4 St. Louis


no data? El Paso

Not sure if this is really a valid comparison to make honestly.
Putting Plano is any group with the likes of New Orleans, Dallas, Detroit or Baltimore seems like an apples to oranges deal. All those are cities, much older, with bigger diverse populations with all the legacy issues that can bring.
Plano until recently was firmly in the suburb category, not really a stand alone city. It's also a lot newer than any of those towns.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

Plano had a mass shooting event in 2017- 8 people were killed.


There was also one other murder (I think) that has been solved.

Right. IMO a once in a generation or so event, awful as it was, leading to a one year significant increase in the homicide rates does not constitute any kind of trend.

[DtX4415]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Plano's murder/homicide rate was just over the national average in 2017 but well below the national average every other year since 2000 and probably many years other years further back.

Plano had one homicide in '19 and one so far in '20 as noted by the OP.

Plano is very safe.

Murder highest rate in the 1980's, overall violent crime the 1990's, same trend seen on the national level.


Plano Police Dept, Texas - Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter - Population
2010 - 4 - 259,841
2011 - 5 - 265,309
2012 - 1 - 273,816
2013 - 3 - 275,795
2014 - 4 - 277,822
2015 - 4 - 282,96
2016 - 5 - 288,242
2017 - 15 - 290,413
2018 - 5 - 289,897
2019 - 3 - 291,611

[ElmoPuffinburger]

"Putting Plano in any group with the likes of New Orleans, Dallas, Detroit or Baltimore seems like an apples to oranges deal."


I agree. But interestingly, using the 291,611 population number above for Plano, makes Plano the largest city in 20 different states (Wikipedia list of largest city per state). Kind of puts that "just a suburb" into perspective.

[TheOverdog]

Kind of puts that "just a suburb" into perspective.

Indeed. Arlington has a larger population than New Orleans. Plano is about 100,000 people smaller.

[Loveshiscountry]

Plano has a high rate of 2 parent families, 80%. Children raised in 2 parent families commit crime at a much lower rate.