Yes, you’re 100% correct. I meant violent crime, my mistake for not specifying. The USA is corrupt as fuck and there is tons of graft done throughout industry (as you note) and local, state, and federal government that makes the violent crime dollar amounts seem tiny by comparison.

Police steal more dollar value from innocent people in the USA than burglars do. This is of course crime but is not counted in normal crime statistics or regarded as violent crime despite police doing this while armed.

I don't believe "Almost all of the USA’s [violent] crime is concentrated in the bad parts of a few cities" is all that correct. I believe it's because your understanding may come from older reports.

As far as I can tell, per capita violent crime is indeed often higher in urban areas than suburban or rural areas, but sometimes the violent crime rate in rural US is higher than the national average.

Quoting a 2018 publication at https://atlantablackstar.com/2018/07/16/rural-red-states-tha... :

> According to Pew Research, violent crime in the United States has fallen sharply in the past 25 years. For the first time in a decade, violent crime in rural areas has surpassed the national average, as the website Governing reported. The reasons for this state of affairs are severalfold: Although all rural areas are not poor, poverty has increased, which has led to an increase in crime. Employment has fallen in the countryside as farming has consolidated and manufacturing jobs have left. Further, the opioid crisis , as well as the methamphetamine epidemic,continue to make their presence known in small towns as a driver of crime. Finally, there are fewer law enforcement resources in the country due to shrinking tax bases, with fewer jail cells, and sheriff’s deputies required to cover significantly larger patrol areas than their urban counterparts. This rural reality provides an opening for criminal activity such as drug dealing to thrive.

Or, Table 7 of https://bjs.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh236/files/media/docu... states that in 2019 the rate of violent crime in suburban US was higher than that of urban US.

There are regional numbers at https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/bjs/grants/252630.pdf?utm_cont... correctly, ("Victimization in Different Types of Areas in the United States: Subnational Findings from the National Crime Victimization Survey, 2010–2015").

In looking at the numbers I think the take-home message is that violent crime is not mostly due to "bad parts of a few cities".

Not only this, but these statistics are all pre-pandemic. Things have changed a LOT in America since 2019, and not for the better.

Table 7 also lists 2020, which is the first pandemic year.

Violent crime rate dropped in urban, suburban, and rural areas.

2021 numbers should be out within a month.