Which big U.S. cities' murder rates fell most in the last year?

Of the 79 big U.S. cities (250,000 people or more) whose police reported every month of 2025 and the year before to the FBI, the murder rate fell most in Irving, TX (-80.1%), Tampa, FL (-51.5%) and Glendale, AZ (-51%) in 2025, and rose most in El Paso, TX (29.3%) and Omaha, NE (27.8%). Across the U.S. it fell 16.5%. A city with few murders can swing a lot in a year, so cities with fewer than 10 murders in the earlier year are left out, as are departments that missed a month (for 2024 and 2025, New Orleans, Orlando and St. Petersburg, Florida). Each rate is per person the department serves.

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Bars are sorted from highest to lowest and start at zero; each one's value is at its end. The dashed line is “U.S. overall”, for comparison. It opens on the top and bottom 10; use “Show all” or the search box for the rest.

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Key facts

Measure: Change in murders per 100,000 people over one year, percent. Written from the data below.

  • El Paso, TX has the highest figure, 29.3%, followed by Omaha, NE (27.8%) and Riverside, CA (27.7%).
  • Irving, TX has the lowest figure, -80.1%, followed by Tampa, FL (-51.5%) and Glendale, AZ (-51%).
  • U.S. overall: -16.5%. Of the 79 compared, 33 are above it and 46 below.

The bigger picture, in plain words: Which big U.S. cities have the highest murder rates, and is it falling?

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Source and date

Source
FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program
License
Public domain (U.S. government work); source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “Which big U.S. cities' murder rates fell most in the last year?” 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/murder-rate-change-by-city (accessed November 4, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly. Developers can also get them as JSON (how).

City Change in murders per 100,000 people over one year, percent
El Paso, TX 29.3
Omaha, NE 27.8
Riverside, CA 27.7
Mesa, AZ 27
Jacksonville, FL 26.4
Bakersfield, CA 16.6
Wichita, KS 7.4
Fort Worth, TX 4.9
Milwaukee, WI 3.8
Fort Wayne, IN 1.8
Virginia Beach, VA 0.1
Raleigh, NC -0.1
Toledo, OH -0.3
Boston, MA -5.7
Cincinnati, OH -5.8
St. Louis, MO -5.8
Kansas City, MO -6.2
Winston-Salem, NC -8.1
Chesapeake, VA -8.2
Cleveland, OH -8.3
Sacramento, CA -8.7
Aurora, CO -9.8
Phoenix, AZ -10
Durham, NC -10.4
Oklahoma City, OK -10.5
San Jose, CA -11.2
Tucson, AZ -14
Anchorage, AK -14.4
Philadelphia, PA -15.3
Greensboro, NC -15.6
Charlotte, NC -15.8
Las Vegas, NV -15.9
Los Angeles, CA -16.4
U.S. overall -16.5
Miami, FL -17.2
Detroit, MI -17.6
Pittsburgh, PA -17.8
San Antonio, TX -17.8
Arlington, TX -18.9
Indianapolis, IN -20.3
Minneapolis, MN -20.4
Houston, TX -20.9
San Francisco, CA -21.2
Atlanta, GA -21.7
Lubbock, TX -21.7
Santa Ana, CA -21.8
Long Beach, CA -22.2
Austin, TX -22.5
Dallas, TX -23.2
Newark, NJ -23.6
New York, NY -23.8
Memphis, TN -24.3
Buffalo, NY -24.4
Colorado Springs, CO -25
Fresno, CA -25.7
Anaheim, CA -26.2
Chicago, IL -27.1
Portland, OR -27.5
Albuquerque, NM -29.3
Columbus, OH -29.3
Baltimore, MD -29.8
Stockton, CA -31.7
Tulsa, OK -32.3
Lexington, KY -33.4
San Diego, CA -33.4
Oakland, CA -33.5
Honolulu, HI -34.4
Washington, DC -35.7
Seattle, WA -36
Denver, CO -39
Reno, NV -40.8
North Las Vegas, NV -42.5
St. Paul, MN -43
Louisville, KY -44
Nashville, TN -46.2
Corpus Christi, TX -48.2
Garland, TX -51
Glendale, AZ -51
Tampa, FL -51.5
Irving, TX -80.1

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