Data: Council on Criminal Justice; Chart: Jacque Schrag/Axios
- Reported levels of 11 of the 13 offenses covered in this report were lower in 2025 than in 2024; nine of the offenses declined by 10% or more. Drug crimes were the only offense category that increased (+7%); sexual assault remained even.
- Looking at changes in violent offenses, the rate of reported homicides was 21% lower in 2025 than in 2024 in the 35 study cities providing data for that crime, representing 922 fewer homicides. There were 9% fewer reported aggravated assaults, 22% fewer gun assaults, and 2% fewer domestic violence incidents last year than in 2024. Robbery fell by 23% while carjackings (a type of robbery) decreased by 43%.
- When nationwide data for jurisdictions of all sizes is reported by the FBI later this year, there is a strong possibility that homicides in 2025 will drop to about 4.0 per 100,000 residents. That would be the lowest rate ever recorded in law enforcement or public health data going back to 1900, and would mark the largest single-year percentage drop in the homicide rate on record.
- Examining changes in property crimes, motor vehicle theft had been on the rise from the summer of 2020 through 2023, but that trend began to reverse in 2024 and the pattern continued in 2025. There were 27% fewer motor vehicle thefts last year than in 2024 in the study cities. Reports of residential burglaries (-17%), nonresidential burglaries (-18%), larcenies (-11%), and shoplifting (-10%) all decreased in 2025 compared to 2024.
- Assessing trends over a longer period, violent crime overall in 2025 was at or below levels in 2019, the year prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice protests of 2020. There were 25% fewer homicides in the study cities in 2025 than in 2019. Aggravated assault (-6%), gun assault (-13%), sexual assault (-4%), domestic violence (-19%), robbery (-36%), and carjacking (-29%) also were lower in 2025 than in 2019.
- Lethality (the share of serious violent crime that is fatal) declined 8% in a sample of 18 cities from 2024 to 2025. From 2019 to 2025, lethality fell 5%. Cities with the highest pre-pandemic homicide levels experienced the largest drop in lethality from 2019 to 2025 (-36%).
- Non-violent crime trends have been varied over the last seven years. There were fewer residential burglaries (-45%), larcenies (-20%), and reported shoplifting incidents (-4%) in 2025 than in 2019, but more nonresidential burglaries (+1%) and motor vehicle thefts (+9%). Drug offenses in 2025 were 19% below 2019 levels.
- The declines in crime, especially homicide, are promising, and are likely the result of a complex tangle of broad social and technological changes and direct policy interventions. Determining a cause for the decline requires a rigorous examination of the data. This report is not evidence of a policy’s success or failure; it simply documents recent crime trends from a sample of large U.S. cities.
The data suggest the steep rise in violence during 2020 through 2022 has fully receded. Since peaking during the pandemic era, homicide rates have steadily declined, falling below levels recorded in nearly every year since the early 1900s.
The findings land amid a political debate over crime and public safety. President Donald Trump has portrayed himself as a law-and-order leader, crediting federal crackdowns, including National Guard deployments and stricter immigration enforcement, for improving safety in major cities.
However, the report notes that violent crime was already falling to a two-decade low in the final year of President Joe Biden’s administration, raising questions about how much recent federal policies have influenced the trend. A White House spokesperson said the administration has taken a “whole-of-government” approach to crime reduction, while researchers cautioned against attributing the drop to any single factor.
Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with Homicide, Manslaughter or any other crime crime. Hiring an effective and competent defense attorney is the first and best step toward justice.
