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Gun homicides have reached rates not seen since the 1990s

In 2021, 81% of all homicides in the US were due to firearm-related injuries.

by USAFacts Team

In 2020, the national homicide rate increased by 30%. That is the largest single-year increase in over a century.

However, not all types of homicide grew at the same rate. Between 2019 and 2021, firearm homicide rates increased 44%, from 4.6 victims per 100,000 people in 2019 to 6.7 victims per 100,000 people in 2021. Alternatively, homicides committed by cutting or stabbing injuries or suffocation – the next most common methods of killing – decreased 17% and 33%, respectively.

While the firearm homicide rate had been slowly decreasing from a peak of 6.8 victims per 100,000 people in the early 1990s, rates have since returned to those levels.

Gun homicide rates increased during the pandemic, on par with the early 1990s

Age-adjusted homicide rates, by method of killing

Note: Data shows “injury mechanisms and all other leading causes” when “Injury intent” was “Homicide.”

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The share of homicides committed with a firearm was higher in 2021 than at any other point in the last 50 years.

In the mid-1980s, around 60% of all homicides involved a firearm. That rose to 71% in the early 1990s and 81% in 2021. In other words, by 2021, homicides involved a firearm four times more often than all other weapons combined.

Beyond shootings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also gathers data on homicides from stabbing, suffocation, drowning, striking, or various forms of transportation. The September 11 attacks led to a larger-than-normal proportion of homicides by “other” causes in 2001.

The proportion of gun-related homicides in 2021 was the highest in 40 years

Percentage of homicides per year by method of killing

Note: Data shows “injury mechanisms and all other leading causes” when “Injury intent” was “Homicide.”

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How many people died during active shooter events?

The US government doesn’t currently maintain publicly available data surrounding mass shootings — instances where three or more victims were killed. However, the FBI does track active shooter events[1] — defined as when a shooter killed or attempted to kill people in a populated area.

Active shooter events doubled between 2019 and 2021, but the number of victims dying from these events remained largely unchanged.

In 2021, 103 victims were killed in active shooter events, accounting for about 0.5% of the homicides reported by the CDC that year.

Of the 26,030 people killed in 2021, 103 died in active shooter events.

Note: The FBI defines an active shooter event as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” These events involve a firearm and a potential for the response to impact the outcome of the event. They do not include incidents involving self-defense, gang violence, domestic disputes and more. Not all active shooter incidents result in death.

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The CDC’s mortality data is one of two main sources of homicide statistics. It covers the entire country and is based on information from death certificates.

The other source, the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, is a consolidation of crime reports from police departments. This data is incomplete — in 2021, only 63% of departments submitted data to the program — but it provides more insight into what happened during some homicides.

For instance, police departments reported detailed circumstances on the homicides of nearly 5,200 people[2] in 2021. Most of these victims were killed in an argument. Less than 2% of the deaths were attributed to gang violence.

Of firearms-related homicides where circumstances were reported, most were due to an argument.

Note: Data are based on the 2021 release of NIBRS data. Incidents were included in these calculations if they involved a homicide and the use of a firearm, handgun, rifle, or shotgun. This data doesn’t cover all crime in the US. In 2021, around 66% of the US population was covered by a NIBRS-reporting agency.

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How does the firearm-related homicide rate vary between different races?

Black, non-Hispanic people and Hispanic people had the sharpest increases in homicide rates from 2019 to 2021.

In 2021, Black people experienced a firearms homicide rate of 29.9 victims per 100,000 Black people, nearly 14 times that of white people. Native American people also have a firearms homicide rate greater than the national rate.

Firearms homicides have grown faster for Black victims than any other race

Age adjusted rates, change in data methodology before and after 2018 displayed as two separate lines

Note: Each race represents victims identified as a single race and “Not Hispanic or Latino.” Hispanic, as displayed here, represents people of any race.

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Red states tend to have less strict gun policies than blue states. For all racial groups except Hispanic people, firearms-homicide rates in 2021 were higher in the states that Donald Trump won in 2020 than they were in the states that Biden won in 2020.

But differences in firearm homicides rates are much smaller between electoral outcomes than they are across racial groups.

Gun homicide rates are similar in states that Trump or Biden won, once race has been taken into account

Age adjusted rates, change in data methodology before and after 2018 displayed as two separate lines

Note: Each race represents victims identified as a single race and “Not Hispanic or Latino.” Hispanic, as displayed here, represents people of any race.

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Read more about deaths in the US attributed to firearms-related injuries including suicides, and get the facts every week by signing up for our newsletter.

Sources & Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The FBI defines an active shooter event as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” It continues that these events involve a firearm and a potential for the response to impact the event’s outcome. It does not include incidents involving self-defense, gang violence, domestic disputes, and more. While the FBI considered shooter events which resulted in a mass killing – those with three or more victims – for inclusion in its list of active shooter events, not all active shooter incidents were also mass killings. In fact, some incidents did not result in the death of any victims.

  2. [2]

    Based on the 2021 release of NIBRS data. Incidents were included in these calculations if they involved a homicide and the use of a firearm, handgun, rifle, or shotgun as a weapon. This data doesn’t cover all crime in the US. In 2021, around 66% of the US population was covered by a NIBRS-reporting agency.