ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – Pinellas County now leads most of the state in the number of violent deaths, according to a new report.

In an annual report published by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, researchers ranked the Florida cities with the highest number of violent deaths over the last year.

According to the Medical Examiner’s office, a violent death is anything from a fatal car crash to an overdose.

Pinellas and Pasco County, represented on a chart by St. Petersburg, came in second, with just 22 fewer violent deaths last year than Miami, located in Dade County.

Those two cities have some of the highest populations in Florida. But districts 6 and 13— Pasco/Pinellas and Hillsborough, respectively— have the highest percentages of deaths per population in the state at 1.37 percent and 1.28 percent, respectively.

A June 2018 report from the St. Petersburg Police Department reports that violent crime was down 20.4 percent from 2017. However, District 6 medical examiners report that Pinellas and Pasco County’s district 6 medical examiner saw 1,648 violent deaths last year.

Other Tampa Bay cities also ranked in the top ten with the highest number of violent deaths among the state’s 100 cities.

Hillsborough County, represented by Tampa on the annual report, had the seventh-highest number of violent deaths, with nearly 1,200 report by the medical examiner’s office.

Sarasota ranked No. 10, with nearly 800 reported violent deaths.

Along with high numbers of violent crimes, the overall violent death rate in Florida has been creeping up for the last four years.

Residents of Pinellas County can keep up with crime reports here.

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