The nation’s 2025 murder rate fell to historic lows unseen since the mid-1950s, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said, with murder and violent crime figures posting the largest year-to-year decrease since the agency began tabulating such figures in 1936.

While the reasons for the decline aren’t yet clear, the year’s 4.1 murders per 100,000 people nationally tied with 1955 and 1956 for the lowest rate in FBI history, according to the agency’s annual Uniform Crime Reporting Program report.

Meanwhile, a midyear report from independent agency Council on Criminal Justice shows homicide rates continuing to fall, suggesting the national homicide rate could reach another historic low in 2026.

“This is one of the most significant public safety developments in decades,” said Adam Gelb, the council’s president and CEO. “Homicide has now fallen by more than half since 2022 . . . That means lives saved, families spared trauma, and communities made safer — and it deserves to be celebrated.”

The council estimated homicide levels are at their lowest since at least 1900 after recording a historic 30% increase from 2019 to 2020. Its midyear report represents a snapshot of trends in three dozen cities from January to June.

“The reasons for the decline are much less clear than the decline itself,” Gelb said. “There will be plenty of competition to claim credit, but the evidence isn’t ready to award a trophy.”

According to the council, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., researchers and law enforcement officials have cited a range of possible factors including changes in criminal justice operations and strategies, technological advances and broad shifts in society and culture.

“We need to understand what’s working, where, for whom, and under what conditions,” Gelb said. “Progress we don’t understand is progress we risk squandering.” 

According to the FBI’s 2025 report, compiled from data submissions from law enforcement agencies nationwide, murders and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses fell by 18.1% from 2024 figures. The U.S. also saw declines in violent crime offenses (9.3%), robbery (18.5%) and property crime (12.4%).

“The 2025 crime statistics exemplify the great work this FBI and our law enforcement partners on the front line are doing to crush violent crime,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.

More than 17,000 agencies submitted data, the FBI said, 2.4% more than in 2024.

Cities between 500,000 and 1 million residents saw the largest drops in serious crime, with murders falling by 27%, robbery by 23%, rape by 18% and violent crime by 15%.

Meanwhile, hate crimes fell 7% overall, the agency said, from 11,404 in 2024 to 10,606 in 2025.

Assaults on law enforcement officers in the line of duty hit a 10-year high in 2025, with a quarter of the year’s 90,178 attacks occurring while the officers were responding to disturbance calls. Fifty-three officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty, the report said.