How did Washington, D.C.’s total homicides for all of 2025 compare to 2024 and 2023 (annual totals)?
Executive summary
Washington, D.C. saw a sharp decline in homicides after a 2023 peak: DOJ and local data show 274 homicides in 2023 and 187 in 2024 (the latter representing a large drop from the prior year) [1] [2] [3]. Local Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) reporting and national coverage indicate 2025 continued that downward trend, with MPD online data through Dec. 30 showing homicides down 31% versus 2024 — which, using the 2024 total of 187, implies roughly 129 homicides in 2025 if one applies that percentage directly — though sources do not provide an officially certified 2025 year-end DOJ total in the materials provided [4] [2] [3].
1. The 2023 spike and the 2024 correction — hard numbers and rates
Federal and local reporting place 2023 as an outlier year with 274 homicides in the District of Columbia, a figure documented in DOJ-referenced coverage and repeated across fact-checkers and local summaries [1] [3], and analysts note the city’s homicide rate that year reached about 39.4 per 100,000 people before falling in 2024 to about 27.3 per 100,000 [1]. That decline from 2023 to 2024 — a drop from 274 to 187 homicides — is consistently cited across multiple sources and frames 2024 as a year of substantial improvement after the 2023 surge [2] [3].
2. 2025: continued declines according to MPD year-end snapshots
Multiple outlets reporting MPD’s online totals describe 2025 as another year of falling homicides: ABC reported that as of Dec. 30 MPD data showed homicides down 31% compared with 2024, and PBS/PolitiFact cited MPD year‑to‑date comparisons in mid‑2025 showing fewer homicides than the same points in 2024 [4] [1] [3]. Those trajectory statements amount to a substantial year‑over‑year reduction in 2025 relative to both 2024 and the 2023 peak, according to local police data summarized by national press [4] [1].
3. Translating the percentage into a comparable annual total (an implied estimate, not an official count)
If one applies the MPD-reported 31% decline in 2025 directly to the 2024 total of 187 homicides, the arithmetic yields an implied 2025 total near 129 homicides (187 × 0.69 ≈ 129) — a sizable fall from both 187 in 2024 and 274 in 2023 — but that number should be read as an estimate derived from the percentage change reported by MPD and ABC rather than as an independently confirmed, final DOJ year-end tally in the provided sources [4] [2]. Sources available do not supply a single, authoritative 2025 year-end DOJ figure to quote as definitive.
4. Conflicting figures and caveats in public reporting
Some outlets and aggregators present different snapshots: a statistics site suggested 2025 might be tracking toward very low totals and even cited a figure as low as 88 homicides for the year, a number inconsistent with the MPD‑based 31% decline figure and not corroborated by MPD/DOJ reporting in the materials provided [2]. Fact‑checking outlets also emphasized that public political presentations sometimes used earlier 2023 data to dramatize trends, and that year‑to‑date comparisons (e.g., 99 homicides as of August versus 112 at the same point in 2024) underscore how timing and the precise data source shift perceptions [1] [3].
5. Bottom line and limits of the record
The strongest, repeatedly cited facts are: 274 homicides in 2023 and 187 in 2024 (documented by DOJ/MPD summaries and cited by fact‑checkers) and MPD/press reporting that 2025 saw roughly a 31% decline versus 2024 as of late December, which implies a 2025 annual total materially below 187 if that decline held through year end [1] [2] [4]. The available sources do not include a single, official DOJ‑certified 2025 annual total within this packet, so any precise 2025 count stated here must be labeled as an estimate based on MPD percentage reporting; alternative figures appearing in non‑official aggregations exist and highlight the need to rely on the MPD or DOJ for final confirmation [4] [2] [3].