{"chart":{"slug":"us-murder-rate","title":"How has the U.S. murder rate changed since 1985?","takeaway":"Police reported about 4.3 murders per 100,000 people in 2025, the lowest since at least 1985, and down from a peak of about 10.3 in 1991. The rate jumped from 5.2 in 2019 to 6.8 in 2020, the biggest one-year rise from 1985 to 2025, then fell back by 2024. In 2021 the FBI stopped taking its old summary reports and accepted only its newer, more detailed system (NIBRS); many police departments hadn't switched yet, so agencies covering only about 77% of Americans reported, against 88 to 98% in other years, and 2021's number is less certain. Murder here means murder and nonnegligent manslaughter as police report it.","topic":"Crime","chart_type":"line","ranking":false,"x_label":"Year","y_label":"Murders per 100,000 people","unit":null,"points_count":41,"source":{"name":"FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program","url":"https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend"},"license":{"name":"Public domain (U.S. government work); source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program","url":"https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright"},"data_as_of":"2025-12-31","updated_at":"2026-10-17T18:50:41.726Z","url":"https://chart.ly/charts/us-murder-rate","api_url":"https://chart.ly/api/v1/charts/us-murder-rate","csv_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/us-murder-rate/data.csv","image_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/us-murder-rate/image.png","embed_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/us-murder-rate/embed","credit":"FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, via Chartly (https://chart.ly/charts/us-murder-rate)","credit_html":"FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, via \u003ca href=\"https://chart.ly/charts/us-murder-rate\"\u003eChartly\u003c/a\u003e","average_label":null,"zero_axis":true,"data":[{"label":"1985","value":8.1},{"label":"1986","value":8.7},{"label":"1987","value":8.4},{"label":"1988","value":8.5},{"label":"1989","value":8.9},{"label":"1990","value":9.7},{"label":"1991","value":10.3},{"label":"1992","value":9.7},{"label":"1993","value":9.8},{"label":"1994","value":9.2},{"label":"1995","value":8.7},{"label":"1996","value":7.8},{"label":"1997","value":7.2},{"label":"1998","value":6.6},{"label":"1999","value":5.9},{"label":"2000","value":5.8},{"label":"2001","value":5.9},{"label":"2002","value":5.9},{"label":"2003","value":5.9},{"label":"2004","value":5.7},{"label":"2005","value":5.9},{"label":"2006","value":5.9},{"label":"2007","value":5.8},{"label":"2008","value":5.5},{"label":"2009","value":5.1},{"label":"2010","value":4.8},{"label":"2011","value":4.8},{"label":"2012","value":4.8},{"label":"2013","value":4.6},{"label":"2014","value":4.5},{"label":"2015","value":5.0},{"label":"2016","value":5.4},{"label":"2017","value":5.4},{"label":"2018","value":5.2},{"label":"2019","value":5.2},{"label":"2020","value":6.8},{"label":"2021","value":6.9},{"label":"2022","value":6.9},{"label":"2023","value":6.1},{"label":"2024","value":5.2},{"label":"2025","value":4.3}],"annotations":[]},"docs":"https://chart.ly/developers","terms":"Free to use with credit: wherever you show or quote a chart's data, name Chartly with a link to that chart's url (each chart's credit line does both) and credit its source as its license asks.","credit":"FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, via Chartly (https://chart.ly/charts/us-murder-rate)"}