Tallahassee Murder Rates Higher Than Miami, Orlando; Less Than Jacksonville,Tampa

A review of FDLE crime date shows that during 2017 there was 9.0 murders in the city of Tallahassee for every 100,000 residents. Tallahassee finished the year with 17 murders.

The graph below shows that this murder rate ranked third when compared to the 10 largest cities in Florida. Jacksonville (12.2) and Tampa (10.5) were ranked ahead of Tallahassee.

Tallahassee had a higher murder rate than six other cities which included Orlando (8.2) and Miami (7.6).

Gainesville and Lakeland, two other cities often compared to Tallahassee, had significantly lower murder rates in 2017. Gainesville, with a population of 129,816, had a murder rate of 3.1 and Lakeland, with a population of 104,185 had a murder rate of 1.0.

Tallahassee’s murder rate trend has consistently increased since 2009.

Steve Stewart

Steve Stewart is the founder and editor of Tallahassee Reports which began in 2009 as an online blog. Steve received a Bachelors Degree from Clemson University in 1984 and a Masters degree in Political Science from FSU in 1990. He has been involved with state and local politics since arriving in Tallahassee in 1989.

View all posts by Steve Stewart →

13 Comments

  1. Anita Parks
    Anita Parks

    Everyone should carry a concealed firearm or other form of self defense device,and know how to use it, that might nip the crime in the bud. Besides one should have a good alarm system,cameras,yard dog,watchful neighbors. Don't post all your business on line,you do NOT know who is watching !

  2. Johnny Mac
    Johnny Mac

    Looks like Gillum will lose after all. Thank God for that! He has no real world work skills, as he has been in government his entire adult life. Uber progressive Gillum loves Gillum, bends the truth constantly, and has been a marginal mayor of a mid-sized city...at best. As a 35 year Tallahassee resident, I can say he is ill-prepared to administer a huge state, and would run our economy into the ground with all his cockamamie utopian dreams, higher taxes, and green initiatives. High crime is a minor issue compared to the fundamental policy issues with Gillum.

  3. The bigger picture
    The bigger picture

    Besides the substantially higher levels of tourist and transient population in most of the other cities listed in these statistics. I guess “In the know” doesn’t want to account for the fact that there are far more than 2 universities and 1 community college located in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando and St. Pete, so based on “In the knows” logic, their statistics would be even more incorrect than Tallahassee’s. Also the majority of the students attending a community college are local residents so they would already be counted as a part of the population (otherwise you are accounting for them twice). Which leaves you with less than 43,000 students remaining and some of these will be city residents as well.

  4. Brian
    Brian

    Quick question how many of those murders in Tallahassee involve students? My bet is very few, even less if you count them as suspects. Orlando and every city south of I4 gets a lot more visitors than Tallahassee could ever think of getting. Jacksonville has 2 Navy bases and has two major interstate highways intersect right in downtown.

    So tell me again about Talahassee?

  5. Fresh Sausages
    Fresh Sausages

    In the Know.... excuses, excuses excuses.. Any city could come up with reasons for them specifically why their murder rate is high. The facts is that it is people killed and it happened in your city. End of story!

  6. ROLL RED WAVE
    ROLL RED WAVE

    the crime rate is base on RESIDENTS... it does not count the college students or workers coming there.. It is Tax paying residents... well now I wondering. Because with the people that choose not to work. So yes it is correct. Now tell me what city Desantis is the mayor of? Gillums crime rate has dropped so far this year. But he had nowhere to go but down. Now remember he still has 2.5 months to go...

  7. Vote Andrew Gillum
    Vote Andrew Gillum

    @ In The Know
    Very well said!

  8. In The Know
    In The Know

    I'm getting so tired of seeing this graphic. The crime rate is based on crime and POPULATION. Tallahassee is home to 2 major universities and a major community college which is nearly (if not more than) 75,000 people that are not counted towards our resident population. In addition, the city receives that many (again, if not more) people from neighboring counties for work, school, play, etc. that also do not count towards our population. This, by no means, doesn't discount that Tallahassee has it's issues. However, I think it's uneducated to keep reporting us as the third highest crime rate without considering the actual factors involved. The system doesn't recognize our large transient population. If you use the FDLE calculations for an increase of 100,000 residents over the documented 189,625 residents, the murder rate actually ends up being 6 (rounded up from 5.86). This would then put us 8th highest, behind all of the largest cities that you would expect to have the highest rates. Again, that is 17 homicides more than any of us would like to see, but please stop degrading our beautiful city with half truths and not reporting the unreported facts.

    1. Don
      Don

      Gainesville has as many student as Tallahassee.

    2. Sheryl Meyer
      Sheryl Meyer

      Actually it looks worse when you take the college population out of the equation.... It's not them committing the crimes for the most part, it's your citizens.
      That's why I know Gillum is an idiot for bragging about our crime rate dipping as low as 2009. Look at all the years then look at our murder rate, last year's more than doubled and is the historical record? It's absolutely ridiculous!
      Gillum had 2 years of his tenure with the highest crime ever at almost 7,000 both times. His other year is average and last year is on the higher side of the average since 2003.
      Now you run along at and research that.... Sick of people like you not understanding how they figure this out!

  9. Hope
    Hope

    Yes, it would be interesting to listen to that discussion, to see how Gillum would deal with the crime rate statewide, when he refuses to deal with it or even acknowledge it in Tallahassee. Gillum has set the bar so low on this topic DeSantis easily score big and leave them in the dust; as DeSantis did today on

  10. News Maven
    News Maven

    Wonder if Gillum will say to DeSantis in a debate: "My city's murder rate is lower than yours."

    1. Todd S
      Todd S

      I’m sure even as a liberal you can see the difference between being the Mayor of a city and being a Citizen of a city... DeSantis is no more then a Citizen of his city as a Representative of the state. Where as Gillum has the authority to reinforce laws as well as create curfews to deal with lawlessness! That’s the difference!

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