How many women report sexual assault to police in the U.S. each year?
Executive summary
Available sources show reporting rates for sexual assault vary by study and metric: the Bureau of Justice Statistics and large victimization surveys have historically found that roughly one-third of sexual assaults are reported to police, while advocacy and academic summaries often state that a substantial minority — and in some reports fewer than 5% — of sexual assaults are reported. For criminal-justice outcomes, RAINN summarizes that for every 1,000 sexual assaults only about 50 reports lead to arrests and 28 to felony convictions [1].
1. What the big national surveys say about reporting
Large national victimization surveys — the kind used by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and in academic literature — have tended to estimate that a sizeable minority of sexual assaults are reported to police. Historical summaries referenced in public sources indicate that roughly one-third of sexual assaults were reported in some DOJ analyses (for example, Wikipedia’s summary of DOJ data noting about 34.8% reported in an earlier period) [2]. Those survey-derived percentages measure incidents or victimizations captured by representative surveys, not the raw counts in police records [2].
2. Advocacy groups and the “most survivors don’t report” narrative
Advocacy organizations and some academic work emphasize that many survivors do not go to police. RAINN’s breakdown of criminal-justice outcomes frames the scale differently: it converts proportions into a cascade — "for every 1,000 sexual assaults, 50 reports lead to arrests, 28 to felony convictions, and 25 to incarceration" — highlighting attrition after reporting [1]. Other academic summaries used in policy discussions sometimes present lower reporting estimates or emphasize underreporting as a systemic problem [3].
3. Why different numbers appear in reporting estimates
Differences arise because sources measure different things. Victimization surveys ask representative samples whether they were victimized and whether they contacted police; those yield survey-based reporting rates such as roughly one-third reported in past DOJ summaries [2]. Advocacy analyses and media stories frequently stress downstream outcomes (how many reports lead to arrest or conviction) and qualitative barriers to reporting — fear of disbelief, shame, or police response — which can be summarized as “most survivors do not get justice,” even if a higher share initially contact police [1] [3].
4. Evidence on convictions and prosecutions after reporting
Independent reporting and investigations find very low conviction rates in several U.S. cities. An NBC News investigation found less than 4% of reported rapes, sexual assaults and child sex‑abuse allegations in certain cities resulted in sex‑crime convictions, underscoring the difference between reporting and legal redress [4]. RAINN’s numeric cascade complements that by showing steep attrition from incidents to arrest or conviction [1].
5. Geographic and temporal variation
Reporting and recorded counts vary by place and year. City-level analyses and media reports show local increases or decreases in reported rape and sexual-assault incidents — for example, New York City reported a 22% rise in reported rapes in one recent year-to-date comparison cited by local news [5]. Conversely, a mid‑year city-sample analysis by the Council on Criminal Justice showed a 10% decrease in reported sexual assaults in the sample of cities between early 2024 and 2025 [6]. National aggregates therefore hide subnational shifts [6] [5].
6. How to interpret “how many women report each year”
If you want a single annual count of women who report sexual assault to police, available sources do not provide a single current national figure in this dataset; they provide reporting rates from surveys and outcomes from criminal-justice analyses [2] [1]. To convert: use a national estimate of incidents from DOJ/NCVS and apply survey reporting rates — but exact recent NCVS incident totals or a current national count of women reporting to police are not supplied in the sources given here [2].
7. Competing perspectives and implicit agendas
Sources reflect competing priorities. Advocacy groups (RAINN, academic articles) emphasize underreporting and system failure to secure convictions to press for survivor support and reform [1] [3]. Investigative journalism (NBC News) focuses on prosecutorial and police practices drawing public accountability [4]. Government statistical agencies emphasize measured prevalence and reporting rates based on survey methodology [2]. Each perspective shapes which number is foregrounded: incident prevalence, reporting rate, arrests, or convictions.
8. Bottom line for readers seeking a single answer
There is no single number in the provided reporting that states exactly “X women report sexual assault to police each year” at the national level. Survey-based reporting rates in DOJ-related summaries put reporting around roughly one-third of incidents [2], while advocacy and investigative reporting emphasize that a far smaller share of incidents lead to arrest or conviction — for every 1,000 assaults only about 50 arrests and 28 felony convictions, as RAINN summarizes [1]. Available sources do not mention a definitive current national count of women who file police reports in a given year.