Louisville, Kentucky

===Crime===

{{See also|Louisville Metro Police Department|Louisville Metro EMS|Louisville Division of Fire|Jefferson County Fire Service}}

In a 2005 survey, [[Morgan Quitno Press]] ranked Louisville as the seventh safest large city in the United States.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20110714114626/http://www.morganquitno.com/cit06pop.htm America's Safest (and Most Dangerous) Cities]." ''[[Morgan Quitno Press]].'' November 21, 2005. Retrieved July 8, 2006.</ref> The 2006 edition of the survey ranked Louisville eighth.<ref>{{cite news |title=Louisville among nation's safest cities |date=October 31, 2006 |newspaper=[[The Courier-Journal]]}}</ref>

In 2004, Louisville recorded 70 murders. The numbers for 2005 ranged from 55 to 59 (FBI says 55, LMPD says 59), which was down 16 percent from 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wave3.com/story/5021890/fbi-report-louisville-crime-rate-outpacing-national-average|title=FBI Report: Louisville Crime Rate Outpacing National Average|website=wave3.com|date=June 13, 2006|access-date=October 22, 2010|archive-date=December 26, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226164956/http://www.wave3.com/story/5021890/fbi-report-louisville-crime-rate-outpacing-national-average|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2006, Louisville-Jefferson County recorded 50 murders, which was significantly lower than previous years. In 2008, Louisville recorded 79 murders.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theurbanlouisvillian.blogspot.com/2007/06/fbi-crime-statistics-from-2006-released.html|title=The Urban Louisvillian: FBI Crime Statistics from 2006 Released|date=June 13, 2007|access-date=July 5, 2007|archive-date=March 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331082422/http://theurbanlouisvillian.blogspot.com/2007/06/fbi-crime-statistics-from-2006-released.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Louisville Metro Area's overall [[violent crime]] rate was 412.6 per 100,000 residents in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.morganquitno.com/met05a.pdf|title=Morgan Quitno—Violent Crime Rate in 2005 (ordered by metro area)|access-date=July 5, 2007|archive-date=March 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331082426/http://www.morganquitno.com/met05a.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The Elizabethtown, Kentucky Metro Area, which is part of Louisville's Combined Statistical Area, was the 17th safest Metro in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.morganquitno.com/cit07pop.htm#METRO |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615000102/http://www.morganquitno.com/cit07pop.htm |archive-date=June 15, 2011 |title=Morgan Quitno—Safest 25 Metropolitan Areas |url-status=dead }}</ref> Kentucky has the 5th lowest violent crime rate out of the 50 states.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.infoplease.com/us/crime/crime-rate-state-2006|title=Crime Rate by State, 2006|website=InfoPlease|access-date=February 5, 2019|archive-date=January 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113084421/https://www.infoplease.com/us/crime/crime-rate-state-2006|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2020, Louisville recorded 173 murders;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2020/12/30/record-number-of-homicides|title=Louisville End 2020 With Record-breaking Homicide Trend|website=spectrumnews1.com|access-date=June 15, 2022|archive-date=May 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516223743/https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2020/12/30/record-number-of-homicides|url-status=live}}</ref> and, in 2021, Louisville recorded 188 murders amidst an ongoing violent crime wave in the city.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wave3.com/2022/01/01/louisville-ends-2021-with-record-year-homicides/?outputType=amp | title=Louisville ends 2021 with record year of homicides | date=January 2022 | access-date=June 8, 2022 | archive-date=September 29, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929045251/https://www.wave3.com/2022/01/01/louisville-ends-2021-with-record-year-homicides/?outputType=amp | url-status=live }}</ref>

The city has also been one of the hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. In 2021, Louisville broke the record for overdoses in the city. Heroin, fentanyl and other opioids have also attributed to an overall increase in violent crime, property crime and homelessness in the past decade.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2022/06/14/kentucky-new-record-fatal-overdoses-fentanyl-opioid-addiction|title=Kentucky shatters its fatal overdose record; fentanyl blamed|website=spectrumnews1.com|access-date=June 15, 2022|archive-date=June 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614160204/https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2022/06/14/kentucky-new-record-fatal-overdoses-fentanyl-opioid-addiction|url-status=live}}</ref>

Violent crime is most concentrated west of downtown, especially in the [[Russell, Louisville|Russell]] neighborhood. The West End, located north of Algonquin Parkway and West of 9th Street, had 32 of the city's 79 murders in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=courier-journal.com—Jefferson County homicide victims, 2007 |url=http://datacenter.courier-journal.com/police/homicides/victims.php?year=2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120604194844/http://datacenter.courier-journal.com/police/homicides/victims.php?year=2007 |archive-date=June 4, 2012 |access-date=March 25, 2008 }}</ref>