12 Alabama Towns So DANGEROUS Even Locals Avoid Them After Dark

The twelve most dangerous towns in Alabama, ranked by their own police reports to the FBI: violent crimes for every 100,000 people a year, 2024 and 2025 together. For each town, what happens there after dark, and what the number leaves out. THE TWELVE 12. Haleyville, Winston and Marion counties · 710 per 100,000 · 61 violent crimes in two years 11. Phenix City, Russell County · 752 per 100,000 · 577 violent crimes 10. Anniston, Calhoun County · 787 per 100,000 · 331 violent crimes 9. Roanoke, Randolph County · 810 per 100,000 · 88 violent crimes 8. Union Springs, Bullock County · 837 per 100,000 · 52 violent crimes 7. Dothan, Houston County · 853 per 100,000 · 1,220 violent crimes 6. Demopolis, Marengo County · 921 per 100,000 · 123 violent crimes 5. Alexander City, Tallapoosa County · 924 per 100,000 · 265 violent crimes 4. Tallassee, Elmore and Tallapoosa counties · 953 per 100,000 · 90 violent crimes 3. Piedmont, Calhoun County · 1,153 per 100,000 · 108 violent crimes 2. Atmore, Escambia County · 1,188 per 100,000 · 197 violent crimes 1. Bessemer, Jefferson County · 1,725 per 100,000 · 855 violent crimes The United States over the same two years: about 346 per 100,000. Alabama: about 367. Just missed: Selma (number 14, about 685). Not ranked: Prichard (its police department is not in the FBI's crime data for Alabama) and Birmingham (too big for this list; at about 1,257 it would sit at number 2). HOW THE LIST WAS MADE 1. Agencies: the 226 Alabama city police departments that sent the FBI all 24 months of 2024 and 2025 (FBI Crime Data Explorer). 2. Size: towns of 2,500 to 100,000 people (the FBI's own population figure for each agency): 129 towns. Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa are above that line. 3. Rank: violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) for 2024 and 2025 together, per 100,000 residents a year. The FBI itself warns against ranking places this way, because many things shape crime in a town: a small town moves a lot on a few bad nights, and a town that draws visitors counts their cases against its residents alone. The film shows what each number leaves out. CHAPTERS 0:00 Twelve towns, ranked by their own police reports 0:58 How the list was made 1:55 12. Haleyville 3:13 11. Phenix City 5:17 10. Anniston 6:59 9. Roanoke 8:32 8. Union Springs 10:04 7. Dothan 12:21 6. Demopolis 13:12 5. Alexander City 14:24 4. Tallassee 15:37 3. Piedmont 16:41 2. Atmore 18:47 The towns you might expect 19:28 1. Bessemer 21:50 All twelve MAIN SOURCES FBI Crime Data Explorer (agency offense counts, January 2024 to December 2025) · U.S. Census Bureau (2020 census) · Encyclopedia of Alabama · the police departments' and cities' own statements as reported by local news: WSFA, ABC 33/40, WBRC, WDHN, WTVY, WTVM, WRBL, FOX10, The Atmore Advance, Atmore News, The Calhoun Journal, The Randolph Leader, CNAW2 News, Northwest Alabamian, Dothan Police Department. Aerial photographs and 3D flyovers: USDA National Agriculture Imagery Program and USGS 3D Elevation Program via The National Map (public domain). Maps: US Census TIGER. Historical photographs: Library of Congress, Historic American Engineering Record (public domain). PHOTO CREDITS (Creative Commons) Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0: Nheyob Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0: formulanone, Mike Kalasnik from Fort Mill, USA, formulanone from Huntsville, United States, Ken Lund Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0: Mthunter58, Cecouchman, Chris Pruitt, Rivers Langley; SaveRivers, Wmr36104, Altairisfar (Jeffrey Reed), Wade Dupree, Rivers A. Langley; SaveRivers, George Puvvada, Rivers Langley SaveRivers, Qqqqqq (talk) Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0: Michael Rivera, Chris Pruitt, Prussian_Fool, DXR, LittleT889, Mccunicano Mapillary, CC BY-SA 4.0: caboosey, sherbets, allen, apmwa, lordsutch, zandu, mapillary01730, tasteslikestars, lvl5, chuck All other photographs are public domain (USDA NAIP aerials, U.S. government, Library of Congress) or CC0. Street-level drives: Mapillary contributors named above (CC BY-SA 4.0).