Crime decreased in every category in 2024, including murder, violent crime and motor vehicle thefts, according to the bureau’s annual Reported Crimes in the Nation Statistics report released by the FBI on Tuesday (article available here).
Every category of crime decreased in frequency, and violent crime in particular dropped to levels not seen since the 1960s. It reflects a trend experts have been tracking as reported numbers of violent crimes continue to drop from a spike immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Violent crime, which the FBI defines as murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, was down an estimated 4.5% in 2024 compared to 2023, with each subcategory also seeing a decrease.
The murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate decreased 14.9% year over year. Robbery dropped by 8.9%. Rape saw an estimated 5.2% decrease and aggravated assault was down 3%, the report found.
Property crime also saw a considerable decrease of 8.1% in 2024, the FBI report found, following a 2.4% drop in 2023. The overall property crime rate in 2024 was the lowest recorded since 1961, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.
This year's report used data submitted by 16,675 different agencies, which the FBI said covers a combined population of more than 325 million people, or about 95.6% of U.S. residents.