2025 Sees Historic Drop in Murders Across Major U.S. Cities
An Axios analysis of data from the Council on Criminal Justice finds murders fell 21% in 2025 across 35 large U.S. cities—the largest one-year drop on record and likely the lowest rate since 1900—with 11 of 13 tracked crimes down and gun assaults and robberies leading the declines (−22% and −23%), while drug crimes rose 7%. In 31 of the 35 cities, homicide declined, led by Denver (−41%), Washington, D.C. (−40%), and Omaha (−40%); Little Rock rose 16%. The national murder rate is expected to be around 4.0 per 100,000 once FBI data are finalized, and experts say the decline is hard to attribute to a single cause amid policy, technology, and economic shifts.
