Last September, the FBI released its national crime statistics for 2023.  The numbers for New Mexico can be described only as catastrophic.

New Mexico had the highest per capita rate for violent crime of any state at 7.8 incidents per thousand and the highest rate for any state for property crime at 29.84 per thousand.  Violent crime includes the offenses of aggravated assault, homicide, rape, and robbery.  Property crime includes arson, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft.

I wanted to do a deeper dive into the crime stats for New Mexico’s five largest cities and compare those stats to the national averages and the figures for El Paso. Here are four tables.

FBI Crime Stats for 2023

• All of the five New Mexico cities had violent crime rates above the national average.
• Albuquerque’s rate of 13.22 was 263% higher than the national average of 3.64.
• El Paso has nearly 119,000 more residents than Albuquerque but had 5,114 fewer reported violent crimes.
• Albuquerque’s reported violent crime rate of 13.22 per thousand is 291% higher than El Paso’s rate of 3.38 per thousand.

• Albuquerque’s all property crime rate of 47.81 per thousand is 149% higher than the national rate of 19.17 per thousand.
• Each of the New Mexico five cities other than Rio Rancho exceeded the national average rate of 19.17.
• El Paso has nearly 119,000 more residents than Albuquerque but had 15,704 fewer reported property crimes.
• Albuquerque’s reported property crime rate of 47.81 per thousand is 193% higher than El Paso’s rate of 16.33 per thousand.

• Among the five New Mexico cities, Rio Rancho and Roswell were the only ones below the national average for vehicle theft per thousand.
• Albuquerque’s rate of 10.42 per thousand is 227% higher than the national average of 3.19 per thousand.
• El Paso has nearly 119,000 more residents than Albuquerque but had 3,492 fewer reported motor vehicle thefts.
• Albuquerque’s reported motor vehicle theft rate of 10.42 per thousand is 202% higher than El Paso’s rate of 3.45 per thousand.

• Among New Mexico’s five cities, only Rio Rancho had a reported murder rate below the national average.
• Albuquerque’s murder rate of 0.19 per thousand is 217% higher than the national average of 0.06.
• El Paso has nearly 119,000 more residents than Albuquerque but had 66 fewer reported murders.
• Albuquerque’s reported murder rate of 0.19 per thousand is 280% higher than El Paso’s rate of 0.05 per thousand.
• All of El Paso’s crime stats in the four tables are below the national averages other than motor vehicle theft.
• All of Albuquerque’s crime stats in the four tables are significantly higher than the national averages.
• Rio Rancho has the lowest reported crime rates among the five New Mexico cities for each category.
• Rio Rancho rates are below the national rates except in the all violent crime category.
• Albuquerque is the most dangerous city in the most dangerous state.

Why do the five largest New Mexico cities have so much more per capita crime than El Paso?  The demographics and income statistics are quite similar.  Is New Mexico law enforcement less competent than El Paso’s?  Are New Mexico criminal courts more lenient than criminal courts in El Paso?  Are New Mexico district attorneys less likely to indict than their El Paso counterpart?  Are potential criminals in El Paso less likely to attempt a criminal act because of a greater fear of capture and incarceration than in New Mexico?  Does New Mexico have a crime epidemic because the political party that has run the state for most of the last 90 years simply not have the political will to do what is necessary to control crime?

Image: Eugene Zemlyanskiy via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.