New Crime Data Shows Columbia, Missouri Safer than Branson?

It's hard to argue with numbers, but I'm going to try. There's allegedly new crime data that seems to show that Columbia, Missouri is safer than Branson, but I have so many questions and you might, too.

It doesn't happen as often as it used to since the Missouri sub-Reddit has become a dumpster fire of political arguing, but I just learned something from a post today - maybe. It insinuates that a person in Columbia, Missouri is safer than that same person if they were in Branson.

A person in Columbia is less likely to experience a violent crime than a person in Branson or Sedalia.
byu/como365 inmissouri

Since I never trust anything I see on the net without digging, I went to the Area Vibes article they included with their post. Here are some things you should know.

Technically, they are right that Columbia, Missouri is ranked below Branson among the most dangerous cities (barely)

Branson, Missouri is the 31st most dangerous place in Missouri according to Area Vibes while Columbia is 32nd. Not a big difference.

That leaves one big question that is not answered though

Unless I'm missing something, there is nothing in the Area Vibes article specifying where they got the crime data from and how recent it is. I could assume that it's the most recent FBI crime data for Missouri, but I've learned to never assume anything. Was it from last year or way back in 2019? I can't tell.

The bottom line is that this is one of the many things that gets tossed around the net as if it were absolute truth (and it may be) without any verifiable data. I'm just gonna take a stab in the dark (no crime pun intended) and say that this is probably a per capita thing where one crime in Branson dings that city more than it would in Columbia. I don't doubt that Branson has issues with crime, but more dangerous than Columbia?

The truth is out there somewhere.