The Show-Me State was the 45th most peaceful place in the country, while the metropolitan area including Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, was the 46th most peaceful out of the 61 metro locales with the highest populations. For comparison, Kansas was the 27th most peaceful state, and St. Louis clocked in at 37th for cities surveyed.
The index is designed to measure the economic impact of violence at a city and a statewide level. According to the IEP, the criteria for peace are as follows:
The USPI measures peacefulness according to five indicators: the number of homicides, number of violent crimes, the incarceration rate, number of police employees and the availability of small arms.
Missouri was deemed less peaceful because of the greater availability of small arms and a higher incarceration rate. The IEP estimates the total economic impact of violence in Missouri to be $9,484,434,922.
The disruptive nature of violence can't be questioned. The Pitch has reported on 39 homicides in Kansas City, Missouri, in less than four full months. There's a very real social and cultural cost to violent crime, but nobody has yet figured out how to turn that cost into a movement to address the homicide rate in KC. Perhaps armed with something tangible, the astronomical figure of $9 billion, those striving to combat violence in the city will finally have a rallying cry that people are willing to hear.
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