US Homicides on Pace for Lowest Level in Over a Century as Crime Keeps Falling

A Century-Low in the Making

America is getting safer — by a lot. New mid-year data from the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) shows that violent crime across the country has continued its remarkable descent in 2026, with homicides now on track to hit levels not seen in more than 126 years. The numbers are not a minor statistical blip. They represent a sustained, multi-year trend that is reshaping daily life in cities large and small.

The new mid-year data comes from the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice. Across 30 cities with homicide data, killings fell 18 percent during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year — translating to 215 fewer people murdered in just six months. That is not an abstraction. Those are real lives, real families, real communities spared from tragedy.

The Numbers Across Every Category

Homicides are the headline figure, but the broader picture is just as striking. In the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year, homicides are down 18%, carjackings are down 47%, motor vehicle thefts are down 20%, robberies are down 17%, and residential burglaries are also down. These are not isolated improvements in one category — they are simultaneous drops across nearly every measure of crime that affects ordinary Americans.

The decline is even more dramatic when measured against the recent peak. Homicides are down 51 percent from the first half of 2022. Carjackings have dropped 73 percent from their 2023 peak, residential burglaries are down 56 percent from their 2018 peak, and motor-vehicle theft is down 51 percent from 2023. For context, the Council on Criminal Justice examined 13 offenses in 36 large cities that consistently publish monthly figures, and nine of those 13 offenses were lower in the first half of 2026 than they were during the same stretch of 2025.

Cities Seeing the Sharpest Turnarounds

Some of the most dramatic improvements are happening in cities that were once defined by their violence. In Memphis, murders are down more than 43% so far this year — after the city recorded fewer than 200 murders last year for the first time since 2019. In Washington, D.C., murders are down more than 42% so far this year, following a 60% plunge in murders last year. In New Orleans, murders are down more than 32% so far this year, after the city's homicide rate fell last year to its lowest in nearly 50 years.

Twenty-one of the 30 cities reporting homicide data recorded fewer killings, with Rochester down 76 percent, Little Rock falling 61 percent, Arlington dropping 60 percent, and Colorado Springs declining 53 percent. The trend is geographically widespread — not confined to one region or one type of city.

What's Driving the Drop — and What Comes Next

The White House has been quick to claim credit. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson credited "President Trump's law-and-order agenda," saying the president is "getting dangerous criminals off the streets, deporting criminal illegal aliens, and is embracing our heroic law enforcement officers like never before." The administration points to federal law enforcement surges, border security, and gang crackdowns as central drivers of the decline.

In addition to the historic drop in murders, the nation has also experienced steep declines in rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, shooting deaths, on-duty law enforcement officer deaths, traffic fatalities, and overdose deaths. Whether one attributes the trend entirely to federal policy or to a broader mix of factors, the data is consistent: violent crime is collapsing at a pace unmatched in modern American history, with a mid-year report confirming that homicides are again on track to reach the lowest level in more than a century — building on last year's extraordinary progress. If the trajectory holds through the end of 2026, the United States will close the year with a crime landscape that most Americans alive today have never experienced.