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2d ago

FBI Says Violent Crime Fell Sharply in 2025, the Largest Annual Drop on Record

A White House claim of success accompanies expert warnings about unclear causes.

WASHINGTON - MARCH 09: The seal of the F.B.I. hangs in the Flag Room at the bureau's headquaters March 9, 2007 in Washington, DC. F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller was responding to a report by the Justice Department inspector general that concluded the FBI had committed 22 violations in its collection of information through the use of national security letters. The letters, which the audit numbered at 47,000 in 2005, allow the agency to collect information like telephone, banking and e-mail records without a judicially approved subpoena. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
An Austin, Texas, police officer blocks off an intersection with caution tape on March 1, 2026.
FILE - Red and blue police lights on a car at a crime scene at night. (GettyImages)
Data: FBI; Note: 2021 data was estimated due to a low number of agencies reporting; Chart: Noah Bressner/Axios

Overview

  • The FBI’s final 2025 national estimates, released in mid‑August 2026, show the largest single-year decline in violent crime since national figures began in 1936, with the violent crime rate down about 9–9.7 percent.
  • Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter fell roughly 18.1 percent to a rate of 4.1 per 100,000, tying the lowest recorded level, and property crime declined about 12.4 percent led by drops in motor vehicle theft, burglary, and larceny-theft.
  • The figures are based on reports from 17,075 law enforcement agencies covering roughly 96 percent of the U.S. population, and the FBI uses statistical estimates for missing submissions, so reported declines do not automatically equal identical drops in unreported crime.
  • The White House released enforcement and arrest figures and credited administration priorities for the decline, while researchers and criminal-justice groups note the downward trend began in 2022 and say the broad, geographically consistent fall makes single-cause claims premature.
  • Preliminary FBI data and independent city-level analyses show the downward trend deepened in the first half of 2026, a development that could shape policy debates about policing, prevention programs, and federal-local enforcement partnerships.