The United States can be divided up into three kinds of places: places where there are no murders, places where there are a few murders, and places where there are lots of murders:
In 2014, the most recent year that a county level breakdown is available, 54% of counties (with 11% of the population) have no murders. 69% of counties have no more than one murder, and about 20% of the population. These counties account for only 4% of all murders in the country.
The worst 1% of counties have 19% of the population and 37% of the murders. The worst 5% of counties contain 47% of the population and account for 68% of murders. As shown in figure 2, over half of murders occurred in only 2% of counties.
Long-haul truck drivers and long-haul train crews [both trans-continenal] were asked how safe is their job when crossing the United States. The answer in both cases was the same. The first five miles and the last five miles are very dangerous, the rest in between is very safe. Those first and last five miles are in the inner city of metropolitan USA. Need I say anymore?