Homicide rates aren’t relevant to a regular person. What matters is the probability of being a victim of a violent crime or a homicide when you weren’t involved in a criminal organization or weren’t already committing a crime.

Many cities with high homicide rates have them specifically because of gang activities and they don’t have any relevance to regular citizens.

Additionally, gun friendly states with “stand your ground” laws will have higher homicide rates just from self defense in robberies.

Tldr; homicide rate is meaningless to how safe you are as a bystander.