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Which states have the highest and lowest rates of reported rape in 2024?
Executive summary
Available sources do not provide a single authoritative list titled “reported rape rates in 2024 by state,” but multiple data points from FBI-derived reporting (through 2023 data published on Statista) and state reports show consistent patterns: Alaska appears at or near the top of state rape-rate rankings (example: 148.7 per 100,000 cited by WorldPopulationReview for a recent year) while New Jersey and some New England states are repeatedly listed among the lowest (New Jersey cited at 17.2 per 100,000 on Datapandas) [1] [2]. The FBI’s national summaries note that the revised “rape” category declined in 2024 and that the FBI published nationwide incident totals for 2024, but the FBI press release does not publish a ranked state-by-state 2024 rate in the provided excerpt [3].
1. What the federal data say — broad strokes, not a ranked list
The FBI released nationwide reported-crime statistics for 2024 showing aggregated trends (including that an estimated rape occurred every 4.1 minutes and that the revised rape category fell about 5.2% in 2024), but the FBI press release excerpt does not present a state-by-state ranking for 2024 in the provided material [3]. Statista publishes FBI-derived state charts through 2023 (for example, “forcible rape rate per 100,000 in 2023 by state”), but those Statista pages are paywalled and reflect FBI 2023 data rather than a direct 2024 state ranking in the current results [4] [5].
2. Which states repeatedly show highest reported rates in available state-level compilations
Several compilations built from FBI data and other public sources repeatedly place Alaska, Arkansas, South Dakota, Michigan, Nevada and others among the states with the highest reported rape rates per 100,000 in recent years. For example, WorldPopulationReview lists Alaska as the highest (148.7 per 100,000) and Arkansas and South Dakota also very high in their ranking summary [1]. Datapandas’ state ranking (derived from similar public data) lists Alaska, Arkansas, South Dakota, Michigan and Nevada among the highest-rate states as well [2].
3. Which states repeatedly show the lowest reported rates in available compilations
Some compilations show New Jersey, Connecticut and Mississippi among the states with the lowest reported rape rates per 100,000. Datapandas reports New Jersey with a notably low rate (17.2 per 100,000) and Connecticut and Mississippi also low on their list [2]. These low-ranking states appear in multiple online state-rank lists derived from FBI state counts and population denominators [2].
4. Numbers vs. counts — why populous states often top “counts” but not necessarily rates
When people ask “highest” they sometimes mean absolute number of reported rapes (counts) rather than rates per 100,000. In 2023, Statista’s FBI-derived charts show Texas had the highest number of reported forcible-rape cases in raw counts (15,097 cases in 2023) — a function of Texas’s large population — while rate-based rankings place less-populous states like Alaska at the top [6] [4].
5. Methodology caveats and why cross-source comparisons are tricky
Comparing states or years requires care. The FBI changed the UCR legacy definition of rape in 2013–2017 and since then has used a revised definition; that affects trends and comparability [3]. Many publicly available compilations (WorldPopulationReview, Datapandas, Wisevoter, others) aggregate FBI/SRS/NIBRS figures but may use different years or rate calculations; some Statista charts are paywalled so underlying tables aren’t visible in the snippets provided [1] [2] [4]. State reports (for example South Dakota’s public health report) emphasize local factors—reporting patterns, tribal lands, and undercounting—that push state rates above the national average [7].
6. Reporting gaps, undercounting and local context that change interpretation
Rape is among the most under-reported crimes; multiple sources stress underreporting and local reporting practices shape the recorded rate. The FBI’s national materials emphasize coverage (95.6% of the U.S. population reported to UCR in 2024) but do not eliminate reporting differences between jurisdictions [3]. State-specific reporting issues—rural isolation, law enforcement resources, tribal jurisdictional reporting—are called out in South Dakota’s state analysis as drivers of an above-average reported rate [7].
7. How to get a precise 2024 state ranking and what to expect
If you need an exact, authoritative state-by-state ranking for 2024 rates: the correct primary source is the FBI’s Crime Data (UCR/NIBRS) tables for 2024; the FBI’s national release confirms 2024 data exist but the provided press release excerpt does not print a ranked state table [3]. Secondary aggregators such as Statista, WorldPopulationReview and Datapandas have produced state rankings using FBI data (often through 2023 or 2024 releases), but you should verify which year and which definition (legacy vs. revised) they used before citing a “2024” ranking [4] [1] [2].
8. Bottom line for readers: plausible answer with limits
Based on the compilations in the available sources, Alaska consistently appears among the highest rape-rate states and New Jersey among the lowest in recent state rankings; populous states such as Texas and California top absolute counts but not per-capita rates [1] [2] [6]. For an authoritative 2024 state-by-state rate table, consult the FBI’s 2024 published data tables (UCR/NIBRS) directly; available sources do not include a complete 2024 ranked state table in the provided excerpts [3] [4].