Chart assignment
Charts to read and discuss
Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.
Chart 1 of 2 · Crime
Which U.S. cities of 100,000 or more have the highest murder rates?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2025 St. Louis, MO had the highest murder rate of the 313 U.S. cities of 100,000 people or more whose police reported a full year to the FBI, about 51.3 per 100,000 people, followed by Birmingham, AL (43.0) and Memphis, TN (31.0); the U.S. rate was about 4.4. Search for any city to see its rate and rank. In a city of 100,000, one more or one fewer murder moves the rate by 1, so a smaller city's rate can jump from year to year. Departments that didn't report a full year are left out, and each rate is per person the department serves; a few serve their whole county. A city's rate also depends on where its borders fall, so compare cities with care.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program (Public domain (U.S. government work); source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 2 · Road safety
Are U.S. roads getting safer per mile driven?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2024 there were 1.19 deaths for every 100 million miles driven, down from 3.35 in 1980. The lowest rate was 1.08 in 2014; it jumped to 1.34 in 2020, when people drove less but deaths rose. Miles driven are the Federal Highway Administration's estimates.
How to read this chart
Each point is the number of people killed in traffic crashes for every 100 million miles Americans drove that year. Dividing by miles driven turns a count into a rate, so years when people drove more or less can be compared fairly.
Questions to discuss
- About what fraction of the 1980 rate is the rate in the latest year?
- In 2020 people drove less, but the rate went up. What could explain that?
- Why is deaths per mile a fairer way to compare years than the total number of deaths?
Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2024
Open the chart and its numbersTeachers: make your own chart assignment, or change this one. Free, no account needed.