Crime Rates Fell Across Every Major Category in 2024, FBI Report Shows

Violent and property crimes declined across the United States in 2024, according to new FBI data released Tuesday. Preliminary data from the first six months of 2025 suggests the downward trend in crime is continuing.

The FBI's annual "Uniform Crime Report", compiled from more than 16,600 law enforcement agencies covering over 95% of the U.S. population, shows decreases in all major crime categories, including a 14.9% drop in murder and nonnegligent manslaughter and an 18.6% drop in motor vehicle theft.

Violent crime overall declined by an estimated 4.5% compared to 2023, while the murder rate fell to 5 per 100,000 inhabitants, continuing a two-year downward trend from a peak of 6.7 in 2020, the report reveals.

Meanwhile, robbery dropped by 8.9%, rape by 5.2%, and aggravated assault by 3%. Property crime fell by 8.1%, with burglary down 8.6% and larceny-theft down 5.5%. The Council on Criminal Justice reported that the 2024 property crime rate was the lowest recorded since 1961.

"These numbers are promising but not surprising," said Ernesto Lopez, senior research specialist at the Council on Criminal Justice. "After significant increases in violent crime starting in 2020, the decline in all major crime types across all sizes of jurisdictions is promising."

While FBI officials declined to offer reasons for the decline, local authorities cited factors like community intervention programs and shifts in criminal activity.

LAPD Chief of Detectives Alan S. Hamilton attributed improvements in Los Angeles to investment in violence prevention programs while Rodney Harrison, former police commissioner of New York's Suffolk County, suggested some criminals may have turned to cybercrime, noting, "If they don't have to go out on the street and run drugs and can make money sitting at the computer, some criminals will do that."

The rise in crime rates was a popular claim made by President Trump during the 2024 campaign trail. During the only presidential debate between the now president and Democratic candidate Kamila Harris on September 10, Trump claimed that "crime here is up and through the roof," attributing rising crime to immigration.

He went on to blame Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration for letting "many millions of criminals" into the U.S., claiming other countries are sending their criminals here. When ABC moderator David Muir cited FBI statistics contradicting his claims, Trump called the data "a fraud."