FBI reports record drop in violent crime

Violent crime in the United States fell sharply in 2025, with the FBI reporting the largest one-year decline in its estimated violent crime rate since the bureau began using data-based estimates in 1936.

The FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report, released Friday, estimated 1,119,768 violent crimes nationwide in 2025. The overall violent crime rate fell by more than 9% from 2024, while the rate of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter dropped by 18.1%, according to the report. The FBI recorded an estimated 14,085 murders.

FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in the report’s introduction that the 2025 murder rate of 4.1 per 100,000 inhabitants “is tied with 1955 and 1956 for the lowest rate since FBI estimations began.” CBS News described the murder rate as reaching a 20-year low.

President Donald Trump highlighted the figures Friday during remarks to law enforcement officers at the Nassau County Police Academy on Long Island. “Today I’m thrilled to announce that the FBI has just released the new Uniform Crime Report showing that in 2025, we achieved the single largest reduction in violent crime in American history,” Trump said. In Garden City, New York, he also called the figures “the best numbers anybody’s ever seen on crime.”

Patel, appearing at the police academy event, said, “This FBI has led the charge to arrest eight of the top 10 most wanted fugitives on planet Earth in the last 16 months.”

The report showed declines across major violent crime categories. Reported rapes fell 7.6%, robberies decreased 18.5%, and aggravated assaults dropped, with NBC News citing a 7.5% decline and CBS News citing 7.2%. Property crimes also fell by 12.4%. Burglaries declined 15.8%, while motor vehicle theft decreased by about 22%, with CBS News reporting a 22.7% drop. Reported hate crime incidents decreased about 7%, though the data released Friday did not break down which groups were targeted, CBS News reported.

The FBI analysis included data from more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies. NBC News reported that every city with a population above 1 million submitted a full year of data. CBS News reported that the FBI report compiled data from about 87% of police departments and covered about 96% of the U.S. population.

The declines continued a trend that followed a spike in violent crime after the COVID-19 pandemic. Both violent crime and murder rates have fallen annually since 2022. In 2024, the violent crime rate fell 4.5%, while murder and nonnegligent manslaughter decreased 14.9%. Patel wrote that “preliminary trends for 2026 are showing additional decreases in crime.”

Several analysts cautioned against assigning the drop to any single cause. “This release confirms that crime in the U.S. is falling at or near a historic clip,” said Jeff Asher, co-founder of AH Datalytics. “This is the third straight year of a record drop in murder and the data for 2026 points to a continued large drop this year.”

Adam Gelb, CEO of the Council on Criminal Justice, said, “The homicide drop is historic and crystal clear. But right now, what’s driving it is about as clear as a glass of milk.” He added that falling rates across cities with different strategies and political leadership should make people cautious about crediting “any one leader, party, policy, or program before the evidence catches up.”

One major category moved in the opposite direction. Reported assaults on law enforcement officers rose 13.8% to 90,178 officers assaulted in the line of duty, a 10-year high, according to the FBI report.