Despite media attention on gun violence in large American cities, new analysis of CDC data shows that rural counties persistently have some of the highest rates of gun violence in the country.
Since gun homicides in America spiked in 2020 and peaked in October 2021, much of the reporting related to gun violence has centered around the nation’s big cities. Forgotten in this conversation is how rural America is similarly dealing with the crisis of gun violence. Gun violence anywhere is unacceptable—whether in our largest cities, suburbs, or smallest communities. And when half of all shootings occur outside of large cities, focusing exclusively on individual cities comes at the expense of achieving meaningful and long-lasting safety for all Americans. Instead of politicizing crime and community violence, we must recognize that gun violence is a uniquely American public health crisis that harms every community, regardless of size or political leanings.
In 2022, the Center for American Progress released an analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that, on a per capita basis, rural counties have some of the highest rates of gun homicides in the country—and higher rates of gun homicides than U.S. counties containing major American cities such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Using CDC data through 2024, this new Center for American Progress analysis finds that from 2021 and 2024, rural counties made up the majority of counties with the highest rates of gun violence in the country.
Rural counties have some of the highest rates of gun homicides
- Between 2021 and 2024, the majority of U.S. counties with the highest annualized gun homicide rate were rural:
- Eleven of the top 20 U.S. counties were rural, seven were large metro counties, and two were small or medium metro counties.
- In 2024, the U.S. county with the highest per capita firearm homicide rate in the United States was Holmes County, Mississippi, which is classified as “nonmetropolitan-noncore,” meaning it is in the most rural category of U.S. counties.
- St. Louis, Missouri, was the only large metro U.S. county in the top five U.S. counties in terms of firearm homicide rate in 2024. The other four counties were all rural:
- Holmes County, Mississippi: 102.8 firearm homicides per 100,000 residents
- Coahoma County, Mississippi: 74.6 firearm homicides per 100,000 residents
- Leflore County, Mississippi: 65.0 firearm homicides per 100,000 residents
- Sunflower County, Mississippi: 56.5 firearm homicides per 100,000 residents
- The average annualized gun homicide rate in rural U.S. counties was still lower than that of small and medium metro and large metro U.S. counties in 2024:
- Across all rural counties, the gun homicide rate was 3.5 per 100,000 residents in 2024, while it was 5.1 per 100,000 residents in large metro counties and 4.5 per 100,000 residents in small and medium metro counties.
