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 most violent crime?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2025 Memphis, TN had the highest violent crime rate of the 313 U.S. cities of 100,000 people or more whose police reported a full year to the FBI, about 1,853 per 100,000 people, followed by Detroit, MI (1,654) and Little Rock, AR (1,485). Carmel, IN (52) and League City, TX (60) had the lowest; the U.S. rate was about 330. Search for any city to see its rate and rank. Violent crime is murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. 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 · World
What is the unemployment rate in each country?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2025, 4.2% of workers in the United States were unemployed, against 4.8% worldwide; the highest rate was 34.2% in Eswatini, and the lowest 0.1%, in Qatar. Search 182 countries and territories. These are the International Labour Organization's estimates, which count people without work who are looking for it and fill gaps where a country runs no regular survey, so they can differ from a country's own figures.
How to read this chart
Each bar is the share of a country's workers who have no job and are looking for one, estimated by the International Labour Organization. The dashed line is the world. People who aren't looking for work, such as students and retirees, aren't counted as unemployed at all.
Questions to discuss
- Is the United States above or below the world rate, and by about how many percentage points?
- A country can have low unemployment while many people earn very little. How is that possible?
- Why would someone who has given up looking for work not count as unemployed? Does that make the number more or less useful?
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
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