How has crime changed in Kentucky since 1985?

Police in Kentucky reported about 214 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2025 (U.S.: 329), down from a high of 602 in 1994, and 1,282 property crimes in 2025 (U.S.: 1,552), down from a high of 3,590 in 1987. There's no figure for 1988, 1991–1992 and 1996–2003, when police departments covering fewer than 3 in 4 of its people reported a full year. Rates count only the agencies that reported. Choose another state to compare.

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Source
FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program
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Public domain (U.S. government work); source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program
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Chartly. “How has crime changed in your state since 1985?” Chart. Data: FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend (data as of December 31, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/crime-rates-by-state-since-1985 (accessed October 10, 2026).

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This table shows Kentucky's rates and the U.S. rates each year; the download has the state the chart opens with.

Crimes per 100,000 people in Kentucky and the U.S., each year
Year Violent, Kentucky Violent, U.S. Property, Kentucky Property, U.S.
1985 305.8 570.3 2,684.3 4,780.0
1986 334.4 633.6 2,796.3 5,015.3
1987 403.8 624.9 3,590.1 5,090.1
1988 – 630.2 – 5,045.9
1989 322.3 680.5 2,726.9 5,211.5
1990 389.5 749.8 2,925.3 5,227.0
1991 – 798.1 – 5,388.4
1992 – 785.4 – 5,089.3
1993 457.8 764.1 2,792.3 4,814.1
1994 601.6 740.4 2,895.8 4,752.4
1995 339.0 720.6 2,883.7 4,796.6
1996 – 658.8 – 4,553.0
1997 – 644.9 – 4,494.7
1998 – 603.8 – 4,212.6
1999 – 545.8 – 3,872.6
2000 – 534.4 – 3,751.7
2001 – 529.5 – 3,801.5
2002 – 512.9 – 3,737.7
2003 – 493.7 – 3,704.0
2004 254.9 478.6 2,578.6 3,599.4
2005 276.6 483.0 2,568.6 3,518.3
2006 282.5 486.9 2,633.7 3,397.1
2007 295.1 477.9 2,501.7 3,316.1
2008 303.7 463.7 2,685.6 3,252.3
2009 263.4 436.8 2,558.7 3,076.7
2010 246.2 408.1 2,590.7 2,963.4
2011 241.3 390.1 2,750.0 2,925.7
2012 224.6 390.7 2,587.7 2,881.3
2013 211.7 378.2 2,395.1 2,759.3
2014 215.7 373.7 2,277.9 2,591.8
2015 223.7 384.6 2,214.8 2,495.2
2016 235.6 399.5 2,215.7 2,469.1
2017 235.4 397.5 2,169.9 2,372.4
2018 222.4 384.8 2,014.2 2,206.8
2019 226.5 381.0 1,927.4 2,109.0
2020 273.2 399.3 1,832.9 1,955.3
2021 272.5 360.9 1,637.2 1,762.2
2022 223.3 398.2 1,505.5 1,998.5
2023 232.3 385.6 1,579.0 1,950.5
2024 226.7 363.4 1,400.5 1,766.8
2025 214.3 329.3 1,281.5 1,552.1

Crimes per 100,000 people, as police reported them to the FBI.

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