Homicide Rate in America 2026
The story of homicide in the United States in 2026 is one of historic reversal. After years of relative calm, a catastrophic pandemic-era surge, and now a multi-year decline that experts are calling the beginning of a second “Great Crime Decline,” America’s homicide data is more closely watched — and more consequential — than at any point in the last three decades. The most authoritative numbers come from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Vital Statistics System — three independent federal data systems that, taken together, paint the clearest available picture of lethal violence in America. As of the latest confirmed FBI data for 2024 and preliminary tracking data for 2025, the nation is experiencing what may be the most sustained and dramatic decline in homicide ever recorded in the modern era of crime statistics.
What makes the current moment especially significant is not just the magnitude of the decline but its breadth. The 14.9% drop in murder and non-negligent manslaughter in 2024 — the largest single-year decline ever recorded by the FBI — followed a 10% drop in 2023, giving the United States back-to-back historic one-year reductions in lethal violence. Preliminary data for 2025 from the Council on Criminal Justice, which tracks 35 major cities, shows homicides falling a further 21% in 2025 compared to 2024 — and if that trend holds when the FBI releases full national data later in 2026, the U.S. homicide rate could reach approximately 4.0 per 100,000 — potentially the lowest rate ever recorded in law enforcement or public health data going all the way back to 1900. This article draws exclusively on U.S. government sources and peer-reviewed research to present every verified data point on homicide rates in America in 2026.
Key Homicide Facts in the U.S. 2026
The table below captures the most critical verified homicide statistics from authoritative U.S. government sources, providing a fast-reference foundation before the section-by-section breakdown.
QUICK FACTS: Homicide Rate in the U.S. (Latest Verified Data, 2024–2025)
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Fact Value
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
National homicide rate (FBI, 2024) 5.0 per 100,000
National homicide rate (BJS/NIBRS, 2024) 5.1 per 100,000
Year-over-year decline in murder (2024) -14.9% (FBI) / -16% (BJS)
Prior pandemic peak rate (2020, CDC) 7.8 per 100,000
All-time FBI rate peak (1991) 9.8 per 100,000
Modern historic low before 2024 (2014) 4.4 per 100,000
Projected 2025 rate (CCJ, if trend holds) ~4.0 per 100,000
Total homicide cases reported (FBI, 2024) 15,795
Homicides involving firearms (CDC, 2024) 76% of all homicides
Gun homicide decline (2023→2024) -16.7% (FBI)
Homicide clearance rate (2024) 61.4%
Murder occurs every X minutes (2024) Every 31.1 minutes
Male homicide victimization rate (2023) 9.3 per 100,000
Female homicide victimization rate (2023) 2.6 per 100,000
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| National homicide rate, 2024 (FBI) | 5.0 per 100,000 | FBI UCR 2024 |
| National homicide rate, 2024 (BJS/NIBRS) | 5.1 per 100,000 | BJS Crime Known to Law Enforcement, 2024 |
| Year-over-year murder decline (2023→2024) | -14.9% (FBI) / -16% (BJS) | FBI/BJS 2024 |
| Prior year decline (2022→2023) | -10% | FBI UCR 2023 |
| 2025 homicide decline in major cities | -21% vs. 2024 | Council on Criminal Justice, 2026 |
| Preliminary 2025 FBI data (Sept. 2024–Aug. 2025) | -18% homicides | ABC News / FBI preliminary data |
| Projected 2025 national rate (if CCJ trend holds) | ~4.0 per 100,000 | CCJ Year-End 2025 Update |
| Pandemic peak rate (CDC, 2020) | 7.8 per 100,000 | CDC NCHS, 2021 |
| All-time modern peak (FBI, 1991) | 9.8 per 100,000 | FBI UCR historical / Congress.gov |
| 1990s low point (2014) | 4.4 per 100,000 | FBI UCR / CBS News |
| Total reported homicide cases (FBI, 2024) | 15,795 | FBI UCR 2024 / Statista |
| Violent crime rate (2024) | 359.1 per 100,000 | FBI UCR 2024 |
| Violent crime rate decline (2023→2024) | -4.5% | FBI UCR 2024 |
| Homicides involving a firearm (CDC, 2024) | 76% | Pew Research Center / CDC, May 2026 |
| Gun homicides (recorded by firearm, FBI 2024) | 11,717 | FBI UCR / Statista 2025 |
| Gun homicide decline (2023→2024) | -16.7% | FBI UCR 2024 |
| Homicide clearance rate (2024) | 61.4% | Murder Accountability Project / FBI, 2025 |
| A murder occurs on average every | 31.1 minutes (2024) | FBI UCR 2024 |
| Male homicide victimization rate (2023) | 9.3 per 100,000 | BJS NIBRS 2023, May 2025 |
| Female homicide victimization rate (2023) | 2.6 per 100,000 | BJS NIBRS 2023, May 2025 |
Data Sources: FBI, “Reported Crimes in the Nation, 2024” (August 2025); BJS, “Homicide Victimization in the United States, 2023” (May 2025); BJS, “Crime Known to Law Enforcement, 2024” (March 2026); Council on Criminal Justice, “Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update” (March 2026); CDC NCHS National Vital Statistics System
The numbers in the facts table above demand a moment of reflection. In 2024, a murder occurred in the United States on average every 31.1 minutes. That figure is disturbing in isolation — but placed in the arc of recent history, it represents a dramatic improvement. At the 2021 pandemic peak, the rate was effectively far higher; the national murder count in 2020 was estimated at nearly 21,570 by CDC and 22,900 in 2021 by FBI preliminary data, compared to 15,795 total homicide cases reported to the FBI in 2024 — a reduction of roughly a third in just three years. The 76% of all homicides involving a firearm in 2024, per CDC data, underscores that America’s homicide problem and its gun problem are functionally the same problem. And the 61.4% homicide clearance rate in 2024 — while a significant improvement over the 52.3% historic low of 2022 — means that nearly 4 in every 10 homicides in America still go unsolved, leaving thousands of families without justice and entire communities without the deterrent effect that successful prosecutions provide.
Homicide Rate by Year in the U.S. 2026 | Historical Trend
U.S. HOMICIDE RATE PER 100,000 INHABITANTS — 1980 TO 2025 (est.)
Source: FBI UCR, CDC NVSS, Council on Criminal Justice
1980 ████████████████████████████████████████████ 10.2 ← Historical peak
1985 ███████████████████████████████████████ 7.9
1991 █████████████████████████████████████████████ 9.8 ← 1990s peak
1993 ████████████████████████████████████████ 9.5
2000 ████████████████████████████ 5.5
2005 █████████████████████████ 5.6
2010 ████████████████████████ 4.8
2014 ████████████████████ 4.4 ← Pre-2025 historic low
2019 ████████████████████ 5.0
2020 ████████████████████████████████ 6.5 (FBI) / 7.8 (CDC) ← Pandemic surge
2021 █████████████████████████████████ 6.8 (FBI)
2022 ████████████████████████████████ 6.3
2023 ████████████████████████████ 5.7
2024 ████████████████████████ 5.0 / 5.1 (BJS)
2025 est. ████████████████████ ~4.0 ← Potentially lowest ever
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 3 6 9 10
Rate per 100,000 inhabitants
| Year | Homicide Rate (per 100,000) | Source & Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 10.2 | FBI UCR — historical all-time modern peak |
| 1991 | 9.8 | FBI UCR — 1990s peak (crack cocaine era) |
| 2000 | 5.5 | FBI UCR — end of 1st “Great Crime Decline” |
| 2005 | 5.6 | FBI UCR |
| 2010 | 4.8 | FBI UCR |
| 2014 | 4.4 | FBI UCR — modern pre-2025 historic low |
| 2019 | 5.0 | FBI UCR — pre-pandemic baseline |
| 2020 | 6.5 (FBI) / 7.8 (CDC) | Pandemic surge — largest single-yr increase since 1960 |
| 2021 | 6.8 (FBI est.) | FBI estimated; crack epidemic comparison level |
| 2022 | 6.3 | FBI UCR |
| 2023 | 5.7 | FBI UCR — -10% year-over-year |
| 2024 | 5.0 (FBI) / 5.1 (BJS) | -14.9% (FBI) / -16% (BJS) — record single-yr decline |
| 2025 (est.) | ~4.0 | CCJ projection — potentially lowest ever recorded |
Data Sources: FBI UCR Historical Data; CDC NCHS, “New CDC/NCHS Data Confirm Largest One-Year Increase in U.S. Homicide Rate in 2020” (October 2021); BJS, “Crime Known to Law Enforcement, 2024” (March 2026); Council on Criminal Justice, “Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update” (March 2026)
The long sweep of U.S. homicide history reveals a country that has experienced enormous swings in lethal violence over the past half-century. The modern peak of 10.2 per 100,000 in 1980 was followed by a slight dip and then a second spike to 9.8 in 1991, driven largely by the crack cocaine epidemic and its associated gang violence. What followed was the first “Great Crime Decline” of the 1990s — the nation’s murder rate fell from 9.8 in 1991 to 5.5 in 2000, a 44% decrease that criminologists still debate. A gentle plateau through the 2000s and early 2010s gave way to a modern low of 4.4 per 100,000 in 2014. Then came 2020 — the COVID-19 pandemic year that produced the largest single-year increase in U.S. homicide since 1960, with the CDC recording a 30% jump to 7.8 per 100,000 and the FBI reporting 6.5 per 100,000 using different methodology. The gap between CDC and FBI rates reflects methodological differences — the CDC captures all homicides recorded on death certificates, while the FBI’s UCR counts only those reported to law enforcement using specific criminal categories — but both systems confirmed the magnitude of the surge.
The recovery since 2022 has been equally dramatic. Three consecutive years of decline — -9% in 2022, -10% in 2023, and -14.9% in 2024 — represent a sustained descent that the Council on Criminal Justice described in March 2026 as potentially historic. The CCJ’s year-end 2025 tracking of 35 major cities found homicides 21% lower in 2025 than in 2024, and its projections suggest the final 2025 national rate could fall to approximately 4.0 per 100,000 — which would be the lowest homicide rate ever recorded in either law enforcement or public health data going back to 1900. This is the context in which every specific statistic in this article must be read: America is, by the numbers, becoming dramatically safer from lethal violence — even as the absolute burden of that violence remains far higher than in any comparable wealthy nation.
Homicide Rate by State in the U.S. 2026 | Highest and Lowest States
HOMICIDE RATE BY STATE — Selected States, Per 100,000 (2024 FBI / CDC Data)
Mississippi ██████████████████████████████████████████ 18.6–19.7
Louisiana ████████████████████████████████████████ 10.8–14.3
New Mexico ████████████████████████████████████████ 10.2–10.5
Alabama ███████████████████████████████████ 9.5+
S. Carolina ███████████████████████████████ 9.0+
Tennessee ███████████████████████████████ 9.0+
National Avg ████████████████ 5.0
California ███████████ ~4.3
New Jersey █████ ~2.5
Rhode Island █████ ~2.3
Idaho ████ ~2.0
Hawaii ████ ~1.8
New Hampshire ██ ~1.0 ← Lowest
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 4 8 12 16 20
Homicide rate per 100,000 — FBI UCR 2024 / CDC 2024
| State | Homicide Rate (per 100,000, 2024) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | ~18.6–19.7 | Highest in the nation (CDC age-adjusted) |
| Louisiana | 10.8 | Highest per FBI UCR; 36th consecutive year at #1 FBI ranking |
| New Mexico | ~10.2–10.5 | Consistently among top 3 most dangerous |
| Alabama | ~9.5+ | Southern region concentration |
| South Carolina | ~9.0+ | Elevated above national average |
| Tennessee | ~9.0+ | Memphis a major homicide concentration city |
| Washington D.C. | ~26 per 100,000 | Highest rate; not a state |
| National Average | 5.0 | FBI UCR 2024 |
| California | ~4.3 | Largest absolute count: 1,782 homicides |
| New Jersey | ~2.5 | Largest percentage decline (2014–2024): -34.1% |
| Hawaii | ~1.8 | Consistently among nation’s safest |
| Idaho | ~2.0 | Declining over decade |
| New Hampshire | ~1.0 | Lowest homicide rate in the nation |
Data Sources: FBI UCR, “Crime in the United States, 2024” (August 2025); CDC WONDER Age-Adjusted Homicide Rates by State, 2024; Security.org, “What State Has the Highest Crime Rate?” (2026); USAFacts, “Which US States Have the Highest Murder Rates?” (April 2026)
The geography of homicide in the United States is anything but random. Eight of the ten states with the highest murder rates are in the South, a pattern so persistent and well-documented that criminologists have given it a name: the Southern homicide phenomenon. Louisiana has held the dubious distinction of recording the highest murder rate of any U.S. state in 36 consecutive years from 1989 through 2024, per FBI data. Its 10.8 per 100,000 rate in 2024 is more than double the national average and reflects concentrated poverty, high rates of gun ownership, limited access to social services, and historical underinvestment in prevention infrastructure. Mississippi, by the CDC’s age-adjusted methodology, actually records an even higher rate — roughly 18.6 to 19.7 per 100,000 — making its homicide rate 14 times that of New Hampshire, the safest state in the nation at approximately 1.0 per 100,000. The CDC and FBI figures differ because of methodology: CDC uses death certificate data with age-adjustment, while FBI uses reports to law enforcement agencies. New Mexico rounds out the top tier at approximately 10.2 to 10.5 per 100,000, largely driven by high-poverty urban corridors in Albuquerque.
At the other end of the spectrum, New England and parts of the Mountain West record the nation’s lowest homicide rates. New Hampshire, Hawaii, Idaho, Rhode Island, and Maine all record rates below 2 per 100,000 — levels more comparable to high-income European nations than to the American South. New Jersey stands out for a different reason: it recorded the largest percentage decline in murder rate of any state from 2014 to 2024, at -34.1% per CDC data — a sustained, decade-long improvement driven by targeted urban violence reduction programs in Newark, Camden, and Trenton. California, despite reporting the highest absolute number of homicides in 2024 at 1,782, has actually been among the states where the murder rate has declined, with its large and diverse population distributing that count across a very high population base. Washington, D.C., at approximately 26 per 100,000, remains in a category by itself — driven by concentrated poverty and gun violence in specific neighborhoods — though the District is not a state and is not ranked among the 50 states in FBI state-level comparisons.
Homicide by Weapon Type in the U.S. 2026
HOMICIDE BY WEAPON TYPE — U.S. (2024 / Recent FBI & CDC Data)
Firearms (total) █████████████████████████████████████████████ 76–85%
↳ Handguns ████████████████████████████████ 53% of gun murders
↳ Rifles ██ 3%
↳ Shotguns █ 1%
↳ Other/Unknown ████████ ~28% of firearms
Knives/Cutting Inst ████ ~8%
Personal Weapons ██ ~5%
Blunt Objects █ ~3%
Other/Unknown ██ ~4%
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percentage of all homicides — FBI/CDC 2024
| Weapon Category | % of Homicides (2024) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| All Firearms (total) | 76% (CDC) / ~77–85% (FBI expanded) | Includes handguns, rifles, shotguns, unknown type |
| Handguns specifically | ~53% of gun murders | FBI expanded homicide data |
| Rifles (“assault weapons” category) | ~3% of gun murders | FBI expanded homicide data |
| Shotguns | ~1% of gun murders | FBI expanded homicide data |
| Firearms, type not stated | ~42% of firearm murders | Many firearms unclassified in FBI data |
| Knives / Cutting Instruments | ~8% | Avg. ~1,600–1,800 per year, CDC WONDER |
| Personal Weapons (hands, fists, feet) | ~5% | FBI expanded data |
| Blunt Objects (clubs, hammers) | ~3% | FBI expanded data |
| Other / Unknown Weapons | ~4% | FBI expanded data |
| Gun homicides (recorded count, 2024) | 11,717 | FBI UCR / Statista, August 2025 |
| Gun homicide decline (2023→2024) | -16.7% | FBI UCR 2024 |
Data Sources: FBI UCR 2024, Released August 2025; Pew Research Center, “What the Data Says About Gun Deaths in the U.S.” (May 2026); BJS, “Trends and Patterns in Firearm Violence, 1993–2023” (November 2024); CDC WONDER National Vital Statistics
Firearms are not merely the most common method of homicide in the United States — they are, by a factor of several times over, the dominant method in a way that has no parallel in any other wealthy nation. 76% of all U.S. homicides in 2024 involved a firearm, according to CDC data analyzed by Pew Research Center and published in May 2026. FBI expanded homicide data, which covers a subset of reported cases, places the firearm share even higher — at approximately 77–85% depending on how unknown weapon types are categorized. The 11,717 recorded gun murders in 2024 represent a significant decline from the 14,069 gun homicides recorded in 2023 — a drop of 16.7% in a single year, the steepest one-year decline in firearm murder on record. The broader CDC dataset, which includes all homicide deaths regardless of how they are categorized, counted approximately 20,162 total homicide deaths in 2024, of which 15,364 involved a firearm — confirming the 76% figure. Handguns are overwhelmingly the weapon of choice within that firearm category, accounting for approximately 53% of all gun murders for which weapon type is known. Rifles — the category that includes so-called “assault-style weapons” — account for only about 3% of gun murders in FBI data, while shotguns account for roughly 1%, making the rifle category a statistically minor contributor to overall homicide rates despite its outsized presence in mass shooting events.
Knives and cutting instruments are the second most common murder weapon at approximately 8% — translating to roughly 1,600 to 1,800 stabbing homicides per year on average, a figure that has remained remarkably consistent across decades of FBI data. Personal weapons — hands, fists, and feet — account for approximately 5% of homicides, and blunt objects another 3%. One critical data limitation to note: approximately 42% of firearm murders in FBI data are classified as “firearms, type not stated” because the submitting agency did not provide weapon-type detail. This means the precise handgun vs. rifle vs. shotgun breakdown shown here reflects only cases where weapon type was reported — the actual ratios may shift somewhat when unknown cases are accounted for. Regardless, the overwhelming takeaway from weapon data in U.S. homicide statistics is consistent and clear: eliminating gun homicide would eliminate roughly three-quarters of all homicide deaths in America, making it the single most consequential variable in any serious analysis of lethal violence.
Homicide Rate by Gender and Age in the U.S. 2026
HOMICIDE VICTIMIZATION RATE BY GENDER (BJS 2023, per 100,000)
Male ████████████████████████████████████████ 9.3
Female ██████████ 2.6
National Avg █████████████████ 5.9
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 3 6 9
Rate per 100,000 persons
FIREARM HOMICIDE RATE BY GENDER — BJS 2018–2022 Annual Avg.
Male firearms ████████████████████████████████████████ 10.6
Female firearms ████████ 1.9
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 3 6 9 11
Rate per 100,000 persons
| Demographic | Homicide Victimization Rate (per 100,000) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Overall national rate (2023, BJS) | 5.9 | BJS NIBRS Estimation Program 2023 |
| Male | 9.3 | BJS, Homicide Victimization 2023 |
| Female | 2.6 | BJS, Homicide Victimization 2023 |
| Male-to-female ratio | 3.5x higher for males | BJS 2023 |
| Male firearm homicide rate (2018–2022 avg.) | 10.6 per 100,000 | BJS Firearm Violence Report 2024 |
| Female firearm homicide rate (2018–2022 avg.) | 1.9 per 100,000 | BJS Firearm Violence Report 2024 |
| Highest at-risk age group | 18–24 years (largest victim/offender share) | CCJ / FBI expanded data |
| Firearm homicide % for ages 10–24 | 92.2% of homicides involve firearm | CDC NCHS, 2022 data |
| Share of homicide offenders who are male | 87.6% | FBI UCR 2024 |
| Young Black males (15–34) | Homicide = #1 cause of death | CDC / BJS cross-reference |
Data Sources: BJS, “Homicide Victimization in the United States, 2023” (May 2025); BJS, “Trends and Patterns in Firearm Violence, 1993–2023” (November 2024); CDC NCHS Blog, Firearm Homicide by Age Group (2022 data); FBI UCR 2024
The gender dimension of homicide in the United States is one of the most dramatic disparities in all of public health data. Men are killed at a rate of 9.3 per 100,000 — 3.5 times the rate for women at 2.6 per 100,000 — according to BJS’s definitive May 2025 report. In terms of firearm homicide specifically, men face an average annual rate of 10.6 per 100,000 compared to 1.9 per 100,000 for women — a ratio of more than 5.5 to one. This gender gap is not unique to the United States, but it is more pronounced here than in virtually any other developed country, reflecting the combination of male-dominated violent conflict patterns and the widespread availability of firearms. Among homicide offenders, the male dominance is even more pronounced: 87.6% of known homicide offenders in 2024 were male, per FBI expanded homicide data.
Age is the other critical axis of homicide risk in America. Young adults aged 18 to 24 represent the highest-risk group for both homicide victimization and offending — a pattern consistent across decades of FBI and CDC data. For youth aged 10 to 24, a remarkable 92.2% of homicide deaths involve a firearm, per CDC data for 2022 — meaning that for young Americans, gun homicide and homicide are essentially synonymous. For young Black males aged 15 to 34, homicide is the leading cause of death — not heart disease, not accidents, not cancer — a distinction that reflects the intersection of age, race, and the geography of gun violence in American cities. This demographic bears a burden of lethal violence that is without parallel in any other wealthy democracy, and it is the single most urgent finding in any honest review of homicide statistics in America in 2026.
Homicide Clearance Rate in the U.S. 2026
HOMICIDE CLEARANCE RATE BY YEAR — U.S. (FBI UCR Data)
1965 █████████████████████████████████████████████████ 90%+ ← Historic high
1980 ████████████████████████████████████████ 72%
2000 ████████████████████████████████████ 64%
2010 ████████████████████████████████ 64.8%
2019 ████████████████████████████ 61.4%
2020 ██████████████████████████ 54.4% ← Largest single-yr drop
2022 ██████████████████████████ 52.3% ← All-time record low
2023 ████████████████████████████ 57.8%
2024 █████████████████████████████ 61.4% ← Improving
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percentage of homicide cases cleared — Murder Accountability Project / FBI
| Year | Homicide Clearance Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | ~90%+ | Historic highs; different demographic/case profile |
| 1980 | ~72% | Declining trend begins |
| 2000 | ~64% | Continued decline |
| 2019 | ~61.4% | Pre-pandemic baseline |
| 2020 | ~54.4% | Single largest year-over-year drop |
| 2022 | 52.3% | All-time record low |
| 2023 | 57.8% | Recovery begins |
| 2024 | 61.4% | FBI CJIS estimate; improving |
Data Source: Murder Accountability Project / FBI Criminal Justice Information Services, October 2025; Council on Criminal Justice, Homicide Trends Report (2025)
The homicide clearance rate — the percentage of murder cases solved through an arrest or other official closure — is one of the most under-reported and consequential statistics in American criminal justice. After hovering above 90% in the 1960s, the clearance rate has been on a long, multi-decade slide. It hit an all-time recorded low of 52.3% in 2022, meaning that in that year alone, nearly half of all murders in the United States went unsolved. The 2020 surge in homicides — combined with widespread protests against law enforcement, reductions in community cooperation with police, and pandemic-era disruptions to detective work — produced the largest single-year drop in clearance rate on record. The recovery since then has been meaningful: 57.8% in 2023 and 61.4% in 2024, the latter matching the pre-pandemic baseline and representing the most positive clearance trend in years, per the Murder Accountability Project’s October 2025 analysis of FBI CJIS data.
The implications of a 38.6% unsolved murder rate — even in a year of improvement — extend far beyond justice for individual victims. Criminologists have long documented a clear relationship between clearance rates and future homicide levels: communities where murders routinely go unsolved see higher rates of retaliatory violence because offenders face minimal accountability. The decline in clearance rates since the 1960s has also dramatically affected the quality of homicide data itself — as the Council on Criminal Justice notes, the proportion of cases with unknown victim-offender relationships has risen from 25% in 1976 to over 40% since 2000, making it harder to understand circumstances and design effective prevention programs. Reversing the clearance rate decline is, according to researchers, one of the highest-leverage interventions available in American violence reduction — yet it receives far less policy attention than other elements of crime response.
U.S. Homicide Rate vs. Other Countries 2026 | International Comparison
HOMICIDE RATE: U.S. vs. SELECTED COUNTRIES (Per 100,000, Most Recent Data)
South Africa █████████████████████████████████████████████████ 43.5
Brazil ████████████████████████████████████████ 22.4
Mexico ████████████████████████████████████ 19.3
United States ████████████ 5.0–6.4
Canada ████ 1.9
Australia ██ 0.9
France ██ 1.3
United Kingdom ██ 0.88
Germany █ 0.91
Japan █ 0.23
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 10 20 30 40 50
Homicide rate per 100,000 — UNODC / G7 Data / FBI 2024
| Country | Homicide Rate (per 100,000, latest available) | Year |
|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 43.5 | 2023/2024 |
| Brazil | 22.4 | 2024 |
| Mexico | 19.3 | 2024 |
| United States | 5.0–5.1 | 2024 |
| Canada | 1.9 | 2024 |
| France | 1.3 | 2023 |
| Australia | ~0.9 | Latest available |
| Germany | 0.91 | 2023 |
| United Kingdom | 0.88 | 2024/2025 |
| Italy | 0.57 | 2023 |
| Japan | 0.23 | 2023 |
| Iceland | ~0 (no firearm homicides) | 2023 |
Data Sources: UNODC Global Homicide Database 2024; Statista, “Homicide Victims per 100,000 Inhabitants of the G7 Countries” (Statista, 2023–2024 data); Global Homicide 2025 update (gdea.substack.com, 2025)
When the U.S. homicide rate is placed in international context, the picture is simultaneously reassuring and deeply troubling. Reassuring, because the United States is far safer than the most violent nations in the world — South Africa at 43.5 per 100,000, Brazil at 22.4, and Mexico at 19.3 all dwarf the American rate. Troubling, because among wealthy, high-income democracies — the peer group to which the United States actually belongs — America is an extreme outlier. At 5.0 per 100,000 in 2024, the U.S. homicide rate is approximately 2.6 times Canada’s rate of 1.9, roughly 3.8 times France’s rate of 1.3, 5.7 times Germany and the UK’s rates of 0.88–0.91, and more than 21 times Japan’s extraordinarily low rate of 0.23 per 100,000. Even White Americans alone — who face lower homicide rates than the national average — are still murdered at rates that exceed the overall national rates of Germany, the UK, France, and Japan. The U.S. gun homicide rate of approximately 4.3–4.4 per 100,000 is roughly 200 times Japan’s firearm homicide rate and far exceeds the total homicide rates of most peer nations — meaning that even if every non-firearm homicide in America were eliminated, the United States would still have more murders per capita than most comparable wealthy countries.
The 2025 trajectory offers some reason for optimism in this international context. At the projected ~4.0 per 100,000 rate for 2025, the United States would finally bring its homicide rate into territory more comparable to countries like Canada (1.9) and Australia (0.9) — though still dramatically higher. Globally, 2024 and 2025 have seen declining homicide rates across many countries simultaneously, with Mexico down 19.6%, Jamaica down 18.7%, and Canada projected to fall to 1.36 per 100,000 in 2025 — suggesting that factors beyond U.S.-specific policy are contributing to a broad global decline in lethal violence, though the mechanisms are not yet fully understood by researchers.
Frequently Asked Questions: Homicide Rate in the U.S. 2026
Q: What is the current homicide rate in the United States in 2026? The most recently confirmed figure is 5.0 per 100,000 inhabitants for 2024, per FBI data released August 2025. The BJS’s NIBRS-based estimate places the 2024 rate at 5.1 per 100,000. Preliminary 2025 data from the Council on Criminal Justice and FBI preliminary tracking suggests a further ~18–21% decline in 2025, which would project a national rate of approximately 4.0 per 100,000 — potentially the lowest ever recorded.
Q: How much did the homicide rate drop in 2024? The FBI recorded a 14.9% decline in murder and non-negligent manslaughter in 2024 — the single largest one-year drop in the FBI’s modern reporting history. BJS data showed a 16% decline using its NIBRS estimation methodology, from 6.1 to 5.1 per 100,000. Gun homicides fell 16.7% in the same year.
Q: What percentage of U.S. homicides involve firearms? 76% of all U.S. homicide deaths in 2024 involved a firearm, per CDC data analyzed by Pew Research Center in May 2026. Of those gun murders for which weapon type is known, handguns account for approximately 53%, rifles for about 3%, and shotguns for about 1%.
Q: Which state has the highest homicide rate? Mississippi has the highest age-adjusted homicide rate per CDC data at approximately 18.6–19.7 per 100,000. Per FBI UCR data, Louisiana holds the top ranking at 10.8 per 100,000 — a position it has held for 36 consecutive years since 1989. The safest state is New Hampshire at approximately 1.0 per 100,000.
Q: How does the U.S. compare to other countries in homicide rates? The U.S. rate of 5.0 per 100,000 in 2024 is the highest among wealthy developed nations. It is more than 2.6 times Canada’s rate, nearly 4 times France and Australia, 5.7 times Germany and the UK, and 21 times Japan’s rate of 0.23 per 100,000.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
