Illinois Place Twice as Dangerous as St. Louis & It’s NOT Chicago

St. Louis has had the reputation (deservedly so in most cases) of being known as the "murder capital" of the United States. Based on some new stats, there's a place in Illinois that rivals it with double the homicide rate.

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Just a few weeks ago, a very popular YouTube channel known as Joe & Nic's Road Trip with over 300,000 subscribers took a drive through Illinois. One suburb they traveled through is a notorious place for violence. Sadly, it used to be a place with great history like the Majestic Theater. It's been closed for more than 60 years even though it's on the National Register of Historic Places.

What Illinois place has double the murder rate of even St. Louis?

You don't have to travel far for the answer. It's East St. Louis, Illinois. While St. Louis has a homicide rate of over 68 for every 100,000 people, East St. Louis doubles that with a staggering 137 murders for every 100,000.

A few years ago I had a trip that took me through East St. Louis during the daytime. Even I know that you don't drive through East St. Louis at night. But, even then there were multiple buildings either on fire or smoldering. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The sad thing is I saw a few people walking down one of their streets acting as if that was just a normal part of their lives. According to the crime stats, it sadly seems that way.

Joe and Nic's Road Trip through East St. Louis is an interesting watch of what a grand town has now decayed into. It didn't used to be that way.