During most of the 20th century, youth gangs were accurately seen as a predominantly urban phenomenon. In many U.S. cities, the issue of whether gangs were present or absent was highly controversial, with different local agencies, organizations, and interest groups forwarding conflicting claims. Traditionally, police departments and city governments tended to deny the existence of gangs, while citizens' groups and social service agencies were more likely to claim gang problems.

In the 1990's, these disagreements continued in some cities, but many city officials and police departments became less reluctant to report gang problems. In the 1970's, as shown in table 8, youth gangs were reported in 19 States; by 1995, all 50 States and the District of Columbia had reported gang problems in one or more of their cities.

Number of Gang Cities: 1970's Through 1995

Table 8 lists the number of new gang cities reported for each State during the 1970's, 1980's, and early 1990's and ranks the 50 States and the District of Columbia according to the total number of gang cities reported in each by 1995. Continuing a 25-year tradition, California led the Nation in the number of gang cities, reporting gangs for almost 300 of its 876 cities, towns, and both incorporated and unincorporated places. Illinois ranked second, with 232 cities reporting gangs. These were the only States with more than 200 gang cities. Three States, Texas, Florida, and New Jersey, reported between 50 and 100 cities. Twenty States reported between 20 and 50 gang cities, 10 reported between 10 and 19, and 16 reported fewer than 10. The lowest ranking States, Alaska, North Dakota, Maine, Hawaii, and Vermont, each reported fewer than five gang problem cities, and the District of Columbia, comprising only one city, reported one.

Note: The States are ranked by the cumulative number of gang cities per State in 1995.

Figure 8, a map of the lower 48 States, uses the data presented in table 8 to represent the geographical distribution of the States according to the number of gang cities. The States are divided into 6 categories, ranging from 16 States with fewer than 10 gang cities in the lowest category to 1 State with more than 250 cities in the highest. California, with almost 300 gang cities, and Illinois, with 232, occupy the top two categories. Texas, Florida, and New Jersey share the 50- to 100-city category. The block of seven contiguous States in the West North Central and Mountain subregions, bounded by Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Nevada—all of which fell into the lowest category with nine or fewer gang cities—is of special interest. In 1995, this area represented the largest region of the country with low numbers of gang cities. A second region with low numbers of gang cities consisted of three New England States—Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. States with 10 to 20 and 21 to 50 gang cities were distributed fairly evenly throughout the country.

Figure 9 uses the data in table 8 to display the 10 States with the largest number of gang cities in 1995. The top 5 States contained about half of all U.S. cities, and the top 10 States contained about 60 percent of U.S. cities. States ranking 6th to 10th in number of gang cities reported similar numbers, ranging from 31 to 39 cities.

Note: The top 10 gang-city States are ranked by number of gang cities in 1995.

Trends in Number of Gang Cities: 1970's Through 1995

Table 8, which ranks the States by their cumulative number of gang cities as of 1995, does not indicate the magnitude of change on a State-by-State basis during the 25-year period because 31 States did not report gangs in the 1970's. The 19 States that did report gang problems during the baseline decade provide the basis for a trend analysis. Table 9 lists these States, ranked by the magnitude of increase in the number of gang cities between the 1970's and 1995.

Table 9 shows that 201 cities in 19 States reported gang problems in the 1970's; by 1995, the number had risen to 1,072, an increase of 871, more than 5 times the 1970's number, or about a 433-percent increase. Of the 19 States that reported gang problems in the 1970's, the largest magnitude of increase was shown by Florida, which reported 2 gang cities in the 1970's and a cumulative figure of 67 in 1995, an increase of more than 33 times.

* The States are ranked by magnitude of increase, which is the cumulative number of gang cities in 1995 divided by the number of new gang-problem cities in the 1970's; see the chapter entitled "Gang Localities in the United States: A Quarter-Century Summary."

The State of Washington ranked second with 30 new gang cities in 1995, an increase of 31 times from the 1970's. Increases on the order of 20 times were shown by Indiana, Illinois, and New Mexico. In most cases, as would be expected, the States with the highest percentage increases were those that reported fewer gang cities in the 1970's. However, Illinois was an exception, because it ranked second in the number of gang cities in the 1970's but showed the fourth largest magnitude of increase between the 1970's and 1995. Texas also showed a relatively large increase from a higher-than-average baseline; its increase of 88 gang cities was more than 13 times larger than its number in the 1970's. In general, the States with higher numbers in the 1970's—Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and California, which reported more than three-quarters of all gang cities in the 1970's—showed the lowest increases, because they had a smaller pool of available gang-free cities than States that reported fewer gang cities in the 1970's.

Figure 10 displays the magnitude of change for the top 10 gang-city States in table 9. The figure clearly shows the dominant position of Florida and Washington, with more than thirtyfold increases in gang cities. Indiana, Illinois, and New Mexico form a second tier, with more than twentyfold increases.

Note: The top 10 gang-city States are ranked by magnitude of change in the number of gang cities, 1970's through 1995. The magnitude of change is the number of gang cities in 1995 divided by the number of gang cities in the 1970's.