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Indio has landed itself on a national list for crime rate among large cities.

The annual ranking, which was released Monday by the CQ Press, listed the eastern Coachella Valley city at No. 177 among the more crime-ridden half of 400 cities.

The study, which looks only at cities with at least 75,000 residents, relied on FBI crime statistics from 2009.

Cities are scored on the number of aggravated assaults, burglaries, murders, rapes, robberies and vehicle thefts per capita.

With a population of about 90,000 people, Indio is the only Coachella Valley city that was large enough to be included in the study.

“We’re the largest city so automatically we’re going to hit the criteria of coming out on that report,” Indio police spokesman Ben Guitron said.

St. Louis earned the dubious distinction of No. 1 worst crime score in the nation, while a New York city — Colonie — scored the lowest and best crime ranking for the second consecutive year.

Two nearby cities also made the list. San Bernardino was ranked No. 34 worst, and Riverside came in at No. 191 worst.

Indio police point to budget cuts, furloughs and an overcrowded justice system among the problems they face but cannot explain why the city ranks in the worst half.

“We can’t look at it as being a comparative market,” Guitron said. “We have to be concerned about our community, and we have a responsibility to the citizens of the community we serve.”

CQ Press has been releasing the study for 17 years and bills itself as an independent source on policy and politics.