How many homicides were reported in Washington D.C. in the past 30 days and how does that compare to last year?
Executive summary
Available public reporting and city data show a steep year‑over‑year decline in Washington, D.C. homicides from 2024 to 2025, but the precise number of homicides "in the past 30 days" cannot be confirmed from the provided sources; the DC Open Data “Crime Incidents in the Last 30 Days” dataset and the MPD daily crime dashboard contain the raw incidents but the snippets supplied do not include a counted total for that rolling 30‑day window [1] [2] [3]. City and national reporting place 2025’s total homicides roughly in the high‑120s — substantially below 2024’s toll — illustrating a measurable recent decline [4] [5] [6].
1. The short answer the sources can sustain: the past‑30‑day count is not present in the provided excerpts
The user’s specific request — an exact count of homicides reported in Washington, D.C. in the past 30 days — requires reading the live MPD/City open dataset for the 30‑day period; the supplied search results point to DC’s “Crime Incidents in the Last 30 Days” dataset and the MPD daily crime page but the snippets do not include that computed total or a screenshot of a 30‑day homicide tally, so the supplied material cannot be used to assert a precise number for the last 30 days [1] [2] [3].
2. What the evidence does show about the year‑to‑year comparison
Multiple authoritative outlets and city releases report a large decline in homicides between 2024 and 2025: The Washington Post cites city data showing about 127 homicides in 2025 versus 187 in 2024 (a roughly 32% drop) and notes 274 homicides in 2023 as the recent peak year [4]. Axios and DOJ‑aligned releases likewise report a 32% year‑over‑year decline in 2025 and emphasize that violent crime broadly fell, with the U.S. Attorney’s office saying violent crime in 2024 was the lowest in over 30 years and homicides down 32% compared with 2023 levels [5] [6].
3. Reconciling small discrepancies in outlets and timing
Local outlets show small variations in end‑of‑year counts — for example NBC4 reported D.C. homicides dropping to 128 with one day left in 2025, while The Washington Post reported 127 for the calendar year — reflecting normal late adjustments, classification updates, or differing cutoffs used by outlets and city counts [7] [4]. Those single‑incident differences do not change the overall story: homicides in 2025 were markedly lower than in 2024 and far lower than the 2023 spike [4] [7].
4. Context, competing narratives, and political framing
The data have become politically charged: White House materials in 2025 framed D.C. as having an out‑of‑control crime problem and emphasized high 2024 rates, while DOJ and local authorities highlighted steep declines and long‑term improvements through 2025 [8] [6]. Independent fact‑checks and analysts note that annual totals shift depending on the timeframe chosen and that comparisons to earlier pandemic years or to other cities can produce different impressions; both the White House and critics have incentives to select framing that supports policy or political goals [9] [10].
5. How to get the exact 30‑day number and why it matters
To produce the precise “last 30 days” homicide count, the DC Open Data “Crime Incidents in the Last 30 Days” dataset and the MPD daily crime dashboard are the authoritative public sources to query; the dataset is explicitly designed for that rolling window and includes methodology notes about geographic assignment changes starting in 2020 [1] [2]. Without extracting and counting the latest entries from those live feeds, a defensible single‑number answer for the past 30 days cannot be drawn from the supplied snippets [3] [1].