[REVISION HISTORY]

US homicide rate hits 126-year low

Updated 4 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-14 20:37 UTC → 2026-08-15 02:15 UTC · added ~~removed~~

The Council on Criminal Justice’s mid‑year 2026 report confirmed an 18 % drop in homicide rates across 30‑36 U.S. cities, roughly 215 fewer killings and a rate about 51 % below its 2022 peak, putting the nation on track for the lowest annual homicide level in more than a century. A July 2026 projection estimates the national homicide rate at about 4.0 deaths per 100,000 people in 2025 – a 21 % decline from the prior year and the lowest figure recorded since at least 1900. The Department of Homeland Security’s own data for the first half of 2026 show the same 18 % decline, establishing the lowest homicide rate in at least 126 years. Other violent‑crime metrics slipped modestly (aggravated assaults ‑2 %, gun assaults ‑6 %) while domestic‑violence incidents rose 8 % and sexual assaults 3 %. Crime categories such as carjackings (‑47 %), motor‑vehicle thefts (‑20 %), robberies (‑17 %) and residential burglaries (‑13 %) also fell. FBI data for 2025 further supports this, noting a 22.7 % decline in motor vehicle thefts, a 15.8 % drop in burglaries, and an 18.5 % reduction in robberies. The White House has characterized these figures as the “largest reduction in violent crime in U. S. HISTORY.” Officials have offered differing explanations for the trend. DHS officials and the Trump administration have linked the decline to the removal of non‑citizen offenders with criminal histories, with Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis stating the trend “shows that removing criminals from the country makes America safer.” Conversely, researchers and experts cite complex macro‑level forces, including reduced alcohol-related deaths, lower drug overdoses, decreased firearm purchases, and substantial federal funding for violence-intervention programs, such as the $362 billion from the American Rescue Plan.

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