About
This page is a collection of data about violent crime in the United States. Click on links to view and download the underlying data. Every dataset on Quandl has a link to the original publisher, for validation and transparency.
Violent Crime Rates, Current and Historical
The following table shows US Crime Rates per 100,000 Persons, categorized by type of crime, sampled over the last 25 years. Data is from the FBI, as archived by the US Disaster Center.
| Crime | Most Recent | 5 Years Ago | 10 Years Ago | 25 Years Ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murder | 4.7 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 8.6 |
| Rape | 26.8 | 30.9 | 31.8 | 38.1 |
| Assault | 241.1 | 287.5 | 318.6 | 347.4 |
| All Violent Crimes | 386.3 | 473.6 | 504.5 | 620.1 |
Gun-Related Statistics, Current
| Measure | Value | As Of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Murders (most recent year) | 12,664 | 2011 | FBI |
| Number of Murders using Guns (most recent year) | 8,583 | 2011 | FBI |
| % of Households with Guns (most recent year) | 45.0 | 2012 | Gallup |
Crime and Weapons Data
| Subject | Data |
|---|---|
| Murder and Crime Rates | The US Disaster center, by archiving FBI data, has Number of Crimes and Crime Rates from 1960 through to 2011. The data show crime rates increasing from 1960 to 1990, and decreasing since. It is this data combined with trends in Abortion Rates on which the Donohue-Levitt hypothesis is built. For 60 years of data, the Bureau of Justice Statistics has Murders and Murder Rates 1950 - 2010 |
| Weapons | According to the FBI, guns are by far the preferred murder weapon in the US, featuring in 8,583 of 12,664 murders in 2011. See US Murders by Weapon Type for a full breakdown. |
| Household Gun Ownership | Per Gallup, a gun can be found in about half of all US homes. See: US Household Gun Ownership. |
| Guns in Schools | Gallup asked what Americans thought about arming school officials in 2005. Most Americans didn't like the idea at the time. See Poll: Arming School Officials. |
| Historical Mass Murder Rates | Professor James Allan Fox has aggregated FBI data on victims and offenders. See Mass Murders 1980 - 2010. |
| Global Murder Data | The OECD has collected Murder Rates for 33 Countries. This or similar data was used by Professor Kieran Healy in his widely-quoted Violent Country article. |
| US States Murder Data | The FBI has collected Murder Rates for 50 States. This or similar data was used by Professor Healy in his follow-up article on US Assault Deaths. |
Punishment Data
| Subject | Data |
|---|---|
| Executions | Number of persons executed in the United States 1930 - 2010, as per the Bureau of Justice Statistics. |
| Prisoners | Number of incarcerated persons 2000 - 2010, as per the Bureau of Justice Statistics. |
| Prison Deaths | Deaths in Jails 2000 - 2010, as per the Bureau of Justice Statistics. |
Violent Crime by State
The FBI has data back to 1960 on violent crime state by state. The table below shows the number of victims per 100,000 persons per year. All data comes from the Violent Crime Rate, All States, 1960 - 2010 dataset.
| State | Most Recent Year | 5 Years Ago | 10 Years Ago | 25 Years Ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 377.8 | 433.0 | 486.2 | 457.5 |
| Alaska | 638.8 | 632.0 | 566.9 | 581.8 |
| Arizona | 408.1 | 512.0 | 531.7 | 602.5 |
| Arkansas | 505.3 | 528.0 | 445.3 | 347.6 |
| California | 440.6 | 526.0 | 621.6 | 765.3 |
| Colorado | 320.8 | 397.0 | 334.0 | 471.0 |
| Connecticut | 281.4 | 273.0 | 324.7 | 402.0 |
| Delaware | 620.9 | 633.0 | 684.4 | 433.3 |
| District of Columbia | 1,330.2 | 1,380.0 | 1,507.9 | 1,624.8 |
| Florida | 542.4 | 709.0 | 812.0 | 941.1 |
| Georgia | 403.3 | 446.0 | 504.7 | 507.2 |
| Hawaii | 262.7 | 256.0 | 243.8 | 219.4 |
| Idaho | 221.0 | 257.0 | 252.5 | 234.8 |
| Illinois | 435.2 | 552.0 | 653.8 | 714.8 |
| Indiana | 314.5 | 324.0 | 349.1 | 309.4 |
| Iowa | 273.5 | 293.0 | 266.4 | 211.7 |
| Kansas | 369.1 | 389.0 | 389.4 | 355.8 |
| Kentucky | 242.6 | 267.0 | 294.5 | 305.5 |
| Louisiana | 549.0 | 597.0 | 681.1 | 694.2 |
| Maine | 122.0 | 112.0 | 109.6 | 167.5 |
| Maryland | 547.7 | 704.0 | 786.6 | 834.6 |
| Massachusetts | 466.6 | 461.0 | 476.1 | 538.2 |
| Michigan | 490.3 | 554.0 | 555.0 | 734.1 |
| Minnesota | 236.0 | 297.0 | 280.8 | 256.4 |
| Mississippi | 269.7 | 280.0 | 360.9 | 270.9 |
| Missouri | 455.0 | 526.0 | 490.0 | 503.5 |
| Montana | 272.2 | 282.0 | 311.1 | 208.5 |
| Nebraska | 279.5 | 287.0 | 327.6 | 237.9 |
| Nevada | 660.6 | 608.0 | 524.2 | 667.1 |
| New Hampshire | 167.0 | 135.0 | 175.4 | 140.8 |
| New Jersey | 307.7 | 355.0 | 383.8 | 544.5 |
| New Mexico | 588.9 | 646.0 | 757.9 | 703.9 |
| New York | 392.1 | 444.0 | 553.9 | 929.9 |
| North Carolina | 363.4 | 469.0 | 497.6 | 420.9 |
| North Dakota | 225.0 | 111.0 | 81.4 | 47.0 |
| Ohio | 315.2 | 350.0 | 334.1 | 381.6 |
| Oklahoma | 479.5 | 509.0 | 497.8 | 422.0 |
| Oregon | 252.0 | 287.0 | 350.7 | 551.1 |
| Pennsylvania | 366.2 | 425.0 | 420.0 | 331.1 |
| Rhode Island | 256.6 | 252.0 | 297.7 | 346.6 |
| South Carolina | 597.7 | 767.0 | 828.1 | 631.0 |
| South Dakota | 268.5 | 179.0 | 166.8 | 136.6 |
| Tennessee | 613.3 | 757.0 | 707.2 | 474.4 |
| Texas | 450.3 | 528.0 | 545.1 | 550.0 |
| Utah | 212.7 | 225.0 | 255.7 | 267.4 |
| Vermont | 130.2 | 126.0 | 113.5 | 147.7 |
| Virginia | 213.6 | 283.0 | 281.7 | 294.7 |
| Washington | 313.8 | 346.0 | 369.7 | 425.4 |
| West Virginia | 314.6 | 274.0 | 316.5 | 166.0 |
| Wisconsin | 248.7 | 242.0 | 236.8 | 206.9 |
| Wyoming | 195.9 | 230.0 | 266.5 | 256.8 |
Selected International Assault Death Rates
This table shows the murder rate per 100,000 persons for selected countries. The Murder Rates by Country page contains 33 countries and links to the underlying raw data.
| Country | Murder Rate |
|---|---|
| USA | 5.7 |
| Canada | 1.6 |
| Australia | 1.0 |
| United Kingdom | 0.3 |
