US crime sees record drop in murders: Report
WASHINGTON, DC: A recent report claims crime in the United States is falling at historic rates in 2025.
Murders and other violent offenses are down sharply compared to previous years. The report presents these numbers as proof of President Donald Trump’s law-and-order policies changing public safety across the country.
“US murders on pace for largest one-year drop on record,” says Axios coverage of the data collected by the Real Time Crime Index site, which compiles data from 570 law enforcement agencies.
According to the data from the Real-Time Crime Index, US murders are on track for the largest one-year drop on record. They are falling to levels seen before the pandemic-era surge in violent crime.
Data show significant declines in murders and other crimes
Crime figures for 2025 compiled by statistics analysts suggest notable declines in several key categories.
US murder rate has dropped sharply for 3 straight years:
— Dr. Smith (@Mrbandot1) December 24, 2025
• 2023: ~12-13% decline (largest on record then)
• 2024: ~13-15% further drop
• 2025: ~20% decline so far — projected as the biggest single-year drop ever (per crime analyst Jeff Asher & Real-Time Crime Index data…
Murders: About a 20% drop in reported killings compared with the previous year.
Mass killings: Fell to their lowest level since the mid-2000s.
The Real-Time Crime Index (RTCI), which aggregates data from hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the US, reported more than 5,900 murders between January and October 2025, down from more than 7,300 in the same period last year.
The report shows almost 7,300 murders during the 12 months up to October 2025, compared to 8,852 in the 12 months before the May 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn.
The murder rate spiked to 12,000 in the subsequent 12 months of Democratic cheerleading for a ‘racial reckoning’ and ‘Black Lives Matter.’
The 2025 murder rate is below 2019's
Trump’s lower 2025 murder rate is below the 8,192 seen in the 12 months before April 2019.
Trump’s focus on law and order, along with his nationwide efforts to reduce illegal migration, has lowered auto theft by almost one-quarter, murder by 20 percent, robbery by 18 percent, burglary by 15 percent, and violent crime by 10 percent.
The U.S. is set to record its biggest single-year decline in murders on record, according to crime statistics analyst Jeff Asher. pic.twitter.com/T5etR7MOgE
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) December 24, 2025
These actions are helping to bring murder rates back to the levels seen before the crime surge of the 1960s.
Since January 2025, Trump’s deputies have deported roughly 600,000 migrants, including many with long criminal records.
While President Donald Trump has pointed out these trends as an achievement of his administration’s focus on public safety, analysts and experts warn against saying the decline is due only to federal policy actions.
The US appears set for a historic drop in murders in 2025, continuing a multi-year decline in violent crime, though the reasons for the trend are not fully settled and vary across different communities.