Murder Rates Down In Major U.S. Cities, From LA To NYC
Murder rates are down in many major U.S. cities halfway through 2025.
New York City experienced the lowest number of shootings and murders in recorded history from January through May 2025.
Baltimore has recorded just 68 homicides as of July 1st — the lowest number in more than 50 years.
Los Angeles is on track for its lowest annual homicide rate in nearly six decades.
Chicago has seen a more than 30% decline in homicides compared to last year.
Independent crime analyst Jeff Asher even suggested this year could have the lowest murder rate in recorded U.S. history. “It’s still early in 2025, but murder is down an enormous amount so far,” Asher wrote.
WHY?
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) credited the decline in Baltimore’s murder rate to the $50 million in state funding the Baltimore Police Department has received since he took office in 2023 and a nearly $11 million boost to the city’s prosecutor’s office. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch pointed to the department sending additional support to areas with historically high concentrations of crime, while LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said a more visible police presence is deterring crime in L.A.
Murder rates are down this year by at least 14% nationwide, according to data firm AH Datalytics and the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice.
These statistics reflect a broader nationwide drop in violent crime, which has been declining in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic.
FBI data and statistics from law enforcement agencies show crime spiked in 2020 during the pandemic and has been trending downward since 2022.
Data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association showed a 10.4% decline in homicides between 2022 and 2023, and a 16.4% drop between 2023 and 2024.
President Trump boasted in June that the U.S murder rate has “plummeted by 28%” since he took office. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump insisted violent crime was on the rise under President Biden, even though the data showed it has started to drop in his final two years.
