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TOLEDO, OHIO -- A national study finds St. Louis overtook Camden, N.J., as the nation's most dangerous city in 2009.

The study released Sunday by CQ Press found St. Louis had 2,070.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of 429.4. That helped St. Louis beat out Camden, which topped last year's list and was the most dangerous city for 2003 and 2004.

Detroit, Flint, Mich., and Oakland, Calif., rounded out the top five.  Three Ohio cities were listed among the top 25 most dangerous cities in the study.  Cleveland came in at 7, while Dayton ranked 20th and Cincinnati 24th.  Toledo came in at 27th with a 157.14 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.

Toledo jumped up 20 places in the rankings, coming in 47th in the previous year's study.

For the second straight year, the safest city with more than 75,000 residents was Colonie, N.Y.

The annual rankings are based on population figures and crime data compiled by the FBI. Some criminologists question the findings, saying the methodology is unfair.

(Copyright 2010. The Associated Press contributed to this article.)