Which US cities saw a significant decrease in murder rates in 2024?
Executive summary
Murder and homicide rates fell across the United States in 2024, with national estimates showing a double-digit decline and large-city agencies reporting some of the steepest year‑over‑year drops; several high‑profile cities — including Detroit, New York City, Baltimore and Albuquerque — recorded sizable decreases in homicides or murder counts during that period [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Nonpartisan analyses of city-level data show the trend was widespread but uneven: samples of large cities reported meaningful declines overall while some places remained well above pre‑pandemic levels [6] [7].
1. National context: a substantive, measurable fall in homicides
Federal and independent data point to a real, material drop in murder and homicide in 2024: the FBI’s summary estimated homicides (murder and nonnegligent manslaughter) fell nearly 15% in 2024 and agencies serving populations of 1,000,000 or more showed the largest decrease in murder at about 19.1% [8] [2], while multiple outlets summarized the FBI’s finding that violent crime overall declined in 2024 [9] [1].
2. Cities singled out in reporting for large year‑over‑year declines
Reporting and city datasets name specific places where murder counts or homicide rates dropped sharply in 2024: Detroit reported 252 homicides in 2023 and 203 in 2024 — a marked decline that local officials and coverage highlighted as part of broader city gains [3]; New York City saw decreases in homicides, rapes and shootings noted in contemporaneous coverage of 2024 crime trends [4]; independent analysts cited Albuquerque as experiencing a 32.3% decrease in fatalities in a recent summary of crime declines and flagged Baltimore among cities with large percentage drops [5]. Council on Criminal Justice work covering 40 cities documented that homicide and most violent crimes in that sample fell to levels at or below pre‑pandemic norms, and that in the subset of 29 cities providing detailed 2024 data homicides were 16% lower compared with 2023 — a collective signal that many cities experienced significant declines [6] [7].
3. What “significant decrease” means here — counts, rates and population groups
Significance in the sources is reported both as raw counts and as rates: the FBI emphasizes percentage drops in estimated murders nationally and by agency population groups (for example, the 19.1% drop among 1,000,000+ jurisdictions) while the Council on Criminal Justice and city reports use year‑over‑year comparisons and 2019 baselines to show homicide levels falling below pre‑pandemic benchmarks [2] [6]. Local examples mix absolute declines (Detroit’s fewer homicides) with percentage changes (the Albuquerque figure reported by an analyst), so readers should note that a “significant” decrease in a small city can be numerically modest yet large in percentage terms and vice versa [3] [5].
4. Caveats and methodological limits in the public record
The publicly available reporting contains several constraints: the FBI’s national UCR summary is an annual, agency‑reported estimate that arrives with a lag and aggregates across jurisdictions [2], independent analysts use realtime indexes with differing coverage and methods [5], and city‑level writeups may highlight data points selectively; the Council on Criminal Justice notes the sample-based nature of its 40‑city analysis and that many cities nonetheless still have high homicide rates despite year‑over‑year declines [6]. Where sources do not provide per‑capita breakdowns, neighborhood patterns, or standardized baselines for every city, this reporting cannot definitively rank every city by 2024 murder‑rate decline without additional primary datasets [6] [2].
5. Takeaway: several big cities did see significant 2024 drops, but nuance matters
Multiple reputable sources converge on the conclusion that 2024 brought a notable reduction in murders nationally and in numerous large cities — with Detroit, New York City, Baltimore and Albuquerque repeatedly cited as examples of substantial year‑over‑year improvement and broader studies showing collective declines across sampled cities — yet the magnitude, measurement (count vs. rate), and local context vary enough that any list of “cities with significant decreases” should be read alongside the underlying data tables and methodology [3] [4] [5] [6] [2].