What proportion of 2024 US firearm deaths were homicides vs suicides vs accidents?
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
Available sources show a range of totals for 2024 U.S. firearm deaths (roughly 31,000–45,000 depending on dataset and whether suicides are included) and consistently report that the majority of firearm deaths are suicides while homicides make up the next-largest share. For example, The Trace’s analysis of federal data reports nearly 27,600 gun suicides — “almost two‑thirds” of gun deaths — and about 15,000+ homicides in 2024 [1]; Gun Violence Archive counts 16,576 firearm deaths excluding suicides [2]; and USAFacts estimates about 44,400 total gun deaths in 2024 with “96%” being suicides or homicides [3].
1. Numbers aren’t uniform — different trackers measure different things
Readers should expect divergent headline totals because sources use different inputs. Gun Violence Archive’s tallies explicitly exclude suicides and reported 16,576 firearm deaths in 2024 when suicides aren’t counted [2]. By contrast, USAFacts gives a CDC‑based estimate of about 44,400 total gun deaths in 2024 that includes suicides, homicides, accidents and other intents [3]. The Trace’s federal‑data analysis puts gun suicides near 27,600 and homicides at just over 15,000 for 2024 — a set of numbers that sums to roughly the same order as CDC‑based totals [1]. Each organization’s methodology drives the apparent disagreement [2] [3] [1].
2. The dominant story: suicides are the majority of gun deaths
Multiple reputable sources report that suicides comprise the largest share of U.S. firearm deaths. The Trace’s review of CDC data says gun suicides rose to nearly 27,600 in 2024 and made up “almost two‑thirds” of all gun deaths [1]. Historical federal reporting and public‑health summaries also show that more than half of firearm deaths are suicides [4] [5]. Everytown and other advocacy analyses similarly emphasize that roughly six in ten gun deaths are suicides in recent years [6] [7].
3. Homicides form the second-largest slice, but they fell in 2024
Federal and major‑media analyses indicate homicides were a substantial minority and declined in 2024. The Trace reports gun homicides fell about 14% from 2023 to more than 15,000 in 2024 [1]. BBC reporting cites CDC figures of “more than 20,000” homicides for an earlier year in context, underscoring that homicide totals can vary by year and source [8]. Gun Violence Archive’s exclusion of suicides produces a much smaller headline death count, which can obscure the suicide majority unless readers notice the caveat [2] [4].
4. Accidents and other causes remain a small share
Nearly all sources show accidental, legal‑intervention, and undetermined‑intent firearm deaths are a small fraction of total gun fatalities. The NCBI/Surgeon General synthesis reports that in 2022 unintentional and legal‑intervention deaths together accounted for the remainder after suicides (56.1%) and homicides (40.8%) — i.e., roughly a few percent [5]. Injury Facts’ 2023 breakdown likewise assigns about 1% to accidental/preventable deaths [9]. Specific 2024 accidental‑death shares aren’t universally enumerated in the provided materials; available sources do not mention an exact 2024 percentage for accidents beyond these contextual figures [5] [9].
5. Translating proportions into ranges: what a careful answer looks like
Using the Trace federal‑data readout (which is CDC‑based) is the most direct way to express 2024 proportions from the supplied reporting: about two‑thirds of gun deaths were suicides (~27,600) and roughly one‑third were homicides (~15,000) in 2024, with accidents/other causes forming only a small remainder [1]. Other trackers yield different totals — e.g., USAFacts’ 44,400 total deaths [3] or Gun Violence Archive’s 16,576 non‑suicide deaths [2] — but they do not contradict the core pattern that suicides are the plurality/majority and homicides the second‑largest category [3] [2].
6. Why these distinctions matter for policy and coverage
Methodological choices shape debate. Organizations that exclude suicides (Gun Violence Archive) highlight interpersonal gun violence trends and mass‑shooting counts [2] [4]. Public‑health sources and CDC‑based analyses emphasize suicides because prevention strategies, mental‑health resources and safe‑storage laws target a different problem set than policing and street‑violence interventions [1] [5] [6]. Stakeholders can appear to be talking past one another if they don’t state whether suicides are included [2] [1].
Limitations: This summary relies on the provided sources and their published analyses; if you want a single CDC table with exact counts by intent for 2024, current reporting in these items points to CDC-derived figures but the underlying CDC dataset itself is not attached in these search results [1] [3] [2].