There were 22,830 homicides in the US in 2023 — an average of about 6.8 deaths per 100,000 people. The national homicide rate has been above 6.0 since 2020.
The national homicide rate decreased from a recent high in 2021 to 2023.
Crude homicide rate per 100,000 people, 1999–2023
Which cities have the most homicides?
One way to approximate city homicide numbers is with data from large urban counties. This is inexact, as some counties map to a single city others contain multiple cities or a broader metropolitan area, and some major cities (like St. Louis and Baltimore) are independent and don’t belong to any county. But county-level numbers are still instructive.
Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago and its metropolitan area, had 805 homicides in 2023 — the most in the nation. The second highest was Los Angeles County, California, whose 88 cities, including Los Angeles, had 659 homicides.
Los Angeles and Cook Counties are also the two most populated counties in the country. When adjusted for population, Cook County’s 15.8 homicides per 100,000 people ranked 17th among 63 large-central metro US counties with reliable data, and Los Angeles County’s 6.8 ranked 37th.
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Which cities have the most homicides per 100,000 people?
Large cities whose home counties had the highest homicide rates in 2023 were:
- New Orleans, LA (Orleans Parish)
- Memphis, TN (Shelby County)
- St. Louis city
- Baltimore city
- Washington, DC
Orleans Parish (home to New Orleans) has the highest homicide rate of large metro counties.
Homicide death rate and total homicides by large metropolitan county, 2023
The five large, urban counties with the lowest rates were home to San Jose, California; Anaheim, California; San Diego, California; Plano, Texas; and the borough of Queens in New York.
In large, urban municipalities with 20 or fewer reported murders, the rates were considered unreliable. Such was the case in 2023 for the counties that are home to Jersey City, New Jersey; and the borough of Staten Island, New York. The crude homicide rate was unavailable for Hartford, Connecticut.
Which mid-size counties have the highest homicide rates?
Some less-populated urban counties also have higher-than-average homicide rates, particularly in the Southeast.
The five mid-size counties that had the highest homicide rates were:
- Hinds County, MS (home to Jackson): 49.3 homicides per 100,000
- Caddo Parish, LA (home to Shreveport): 36.2
- Montgomery County, AL (home to Montgomery): 34.7
- City of Roanoke, VA: 31.9
- Pulaski County, AR (home to Little Rock): 24.5
Which cities have rising murder rates?
From 2018 to 2023, murder rates rose in 46 of the 59 large urban counties with reliable data, stayed level in two, and fell in eleven.
In Shelby County, Tennessee, home to Memphis, the homicide rate had the largest net increase, from 24.3 homicides per 100,000 people in 2018, to 40.9 in 2023. Two other places had net homicide increases larger than ten: Washington, DC (net increase of 15.4 homicides); and Orleans Parish, LA, home to New Orleans (increase of 15.2).
From 2018 to 2023, homicide rates rose in 46 large urban counties.
Change in homicide rates per 100,000 people, by large metropolitan county
Not all counties had rising murder rates: homicides fell in eleven large metro counties. The largest drops were in Baltimore (from 43.2 per 100,000 people in 2018 to 36.3 in 2023) and St. Louis (from 43.9 to 37.6).
Where did this data come from?
Different agencies report on homicide differently. The CDC reports on homicide as a cause of death in its wide-ranging online data for epidemiologic research (WONDER) database, allowing comparisons among mortality rates, while the FBI reports on homicide in its crime data, allowing comparisons among crime rates.
USAFacts relies on CDC data because of its more complete dataset and consistency over time. The CDC collects homicide data from standardized death certificates, which contain medical information typically entered by coroners or medical examiners. The FBI, meanwhile, relies on local law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting crime data, which many do not. Still, deaths could be miscounted by either agency as homicides (or not) based on limited detail on the circumstances.
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Page sources and methodology
All of the data on the page was sourced directly from government agencies. The analysis and final review was performed by USAFacts.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research
