Axios New Orleans
September 09, 2025
1 big thing: 🔍 Digging into the crime data
Louisiana and other Southern states had some of the nation's highest violent crime and homicide rates in 2024, driven by violence in small communities, according to an Axios analysis of FBI data.
Why it matters: A state-by-state comparison paints a complex picture of crime trends as President Trump threatens to send the National Guard to Democrat-controlled cities, including New Orleans, over concerns about violent crime.
The big picture: The president has already dispatched the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and is threatening to send troops to Chicago, Baltimore and Oakland, California.
- Trump also faces questions about whether he'll send troops to communities in red states — many of them largely rural — where crime rates are actually higher than the areas he's targeted.
Catch up quick: Trump last week floated the idea of sending the National Guard to "straighten out" New Orleans, which would be the first expansion of this policy into a red state.
- Gov. Jeff Landry welcomed the offer, and NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said she'd work with federal troops if they were deployed.
- While statements from the mayor's office have been relatively neutral, City Council members have decried the proposal.
- There haven't been any updates about the administration's intentions since last week.
By the numbers: Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and South Carolina were among the national leaders in both violent crime and homicide rates last year, an Axios review of FBI data found.
- Alaska, the country's most rural state, had the nation's highest violent crime rate at 1,194.3 per 100,000 residents. That was more than three times the national average of 359.1.
- Louisiana's violent crime rate last year was 487.5 per 100,000 residents, the FBI data shows.
Yes, but: Crime continues to trend down in New Orleans, according to city data.
- Reported crimes are down 21% from last year and 43% from two years ago.
- While New Orleans had the highest homicide rate in the country three years ago, the numbers have improved, according to the city's dashboard.
- Murders are down 21% from last year and 64% from three years ago.
What they're saying: The data shows "what is possible when you actually work strategies and when you are focused or precision-based," Superintendent Kirkpatrick said in May.
- She also credited a federal law enforcement partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security Investigations.
2. 📈 Shreveport's high homicide rate
Shreveport had the highest homicide rate in the state last year, with 26.8 homicides per 100,000 residents, per the FBI data.
- However, Baton Rouge appears to have a higher rate, based on local police figures and media reports.
- The national average was 5 per 100,000 residents.
Zoom out: Alaska and New Mexico had the nation's highest homicide rate with 11.3 homicides per 100,000 residents each.
- Pennsylvania was third nationally with a homicide rate of 10.1, followed by Louisiana with 9 per 100,000 residents.
- Illinois, home to Chicago, which Trump has called a "killing field," had a homicide rate of 6 per 100,000 residents, ranking 20th in the nation.
Between the lines: Big-city crime often receives the most attention in political discourse, but an Axios analysis of rural states found that violence in small towns is driving some of the nation's highest crime rates.
- Rural crime often gets overlooked because most media outlets are centered in urban areas and focus on crime there, Ralph Weisheit, a criminal justice professor at Illinois State University, tells us.
Zoom in: Jackson, Mississippi, had the nation's highest homicide rate last year — nearly 78 homicides per 100,000 residents. That's more than 15 times the national average.
- There has been no national discussion about sending troops there to combat crime.
3. Fully Dressed: 😋 St. Roch's new stall
4. 🏢 1 photo to go: Lunch with the bosses
Axios New Orleans
