(NewsNation) — A new report shows violent crime, particularly murders, are falling fast, with the U.S. on pace for its largest single-year drop in the number of homicides ever.
This year, the Real-Time Crime Index, which compiles data from more than 500 police departments around America, shows murders down about 20% compared with 2024. That’s on pace for what would be the sharpest single-year drop in murders the country has ever seen. A separate midyear snapshot from the Council on Criminal Justice found homicides were down on average across a sample of major cities.
But it’s not just murders, motor vehicle thefts, aggravated assaults, and robbery that saw significant drops compared to this same time last year. Some cities saw big drops; New York and Memphis were down nearly 20%, and Chicago was down nearly 28%. New Orleans and Los Angeles also saw significant drops. But the same report also notes some places moved the other way, with sharp local spikes in communities like Johnston County, North Carolina and Gilbert, Arizona.
But here’s the important fine print. This is not one clean national scoreboard. The real-time index is a sample, and it can shift as more reports come in. The FBI’s full year national totals for 2025 are still to come.
While President Trump made cracking down on crime a major focus of his agenda, Axios notes there’s no definitive evidence linking a 2025 drop to any one federal policy. Until the full federal count is in, the cautious and smart read is to stay optimistic with eyes on what happens city by city.