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Fact check: How many attacks have been attributed to right-wing extremism in the USA since 2020?
Executive Summary
The available analyses show there is no single authoritative count of right-wing extremist attacks in the United States since 2020; public datasets and studies report different measures (incidents, fatal attacks, deaths, group counts) that are not directly combinable. Multiple reputable trackers and studies provide partial windows: an average of about 20 right-wing terror incidents per year from 2011–2024 (with a sharp drop reported in 2025), an ADL tabulation of 67 domestic terror incidents from 2017–2022, and organizational tallies of groups and tactics that document rising activity but not a definitive 2020–present attack total [1] [2] [3].
1. Why a single national tally is elusive — Numbers don’t measure the same thing
Counting attacks requires defining terms—“attack,” “terror incident,” “fatal extremist crime,” or “domestic terrorism”—and different organizations use different definitions and methods. Academic trackers and advocacy groups release incident-based counts, fatality-focused studies, and organizational inventories, but none uniformly cover all attack types since 2020 in one figure [4] [5]. The GW Extremism Tracker provides ongoing monthly updates and court proceedings without producing a single aggregate for 2020–present, while analytical studies focus on patterns or fatalities over long timeframes, making direct aggregation misleading [4] [5]. Researchers explicitly note methodological choices shape whether an event is included, so comparisons across sources require caution.
2. What several reputable trackers do agree on — Right-wing violence has been prominent and lethal
Multiple analyses converge on the point that right-wing extremist violence accounts for a large share of recent U.S. domestic terrorism deaths. One synthesis places roughly 75–80% of U.S. domestic terrorism deaths since 2001 as attributable to right-wing extremism, underscoring lethality even if incident counts vary [6]. The ADL documented 67 domestic terror incidents by right-wing extremists from 2017–2022 that caused 58 deaths, highlighting that a relatively small number of incidents produced high mortality [2]. These findings align with broader academic and NGO assessments that emphasize lethality and organizational trends rather than a simple incident tally [5] [3].
3. Recent trends: a steady rate through 2024, then a reported 2025 decline
A recent 2025 analysis reports an average of about 20 right-wing terror incidents per year between 2011 and 2024, with an unusual drop in 2025 to a single reported right-wing incident while left-wing incidents rose that year [1]. This suggests a shift in short-term dynamics but does not retroactively change 2020–2024 counts. The 2025 decline is notable, but researchers caution single-year fluctuations can reflect enforcement, reporting, or definitional shifts rather than a sustained structural change [1]. The implication is that short-term changes must be interpreted against longer-term baselines.
4. Organizational inventories reveal scope and strategy, not attack totals
Annual reports track groups and tactics: one 2024 report documented 1,371 hate and antigovernment extremist groups in the U.S., offering scale and operational posture but not an attack count [3]. Groups’ proliferation can correlate with risk without producing a one-to-one correspondence with attacks; many cells engage in non-violent activity, plotting, or community organizing alongside violent acts. Tracking group numbers is useful for prevention and policy but cannot substitute for an incident-level count because it captures capacity and ideology rather than verified attacks [3] [7].
5. Why different missions produce divergent emphases and potential agendas
Sources have distinct missions—academic researchers prioritize replicable definitions and long-term trends, NGOs may emphasize current threats and victim impacts, and tracker projects focus on legal proceedings and incident logs—so each source highlights different aspects of right-wing extremism [4] [7] [5]. This produces complementary but sometimes seemingly conflicting presentations: advocacy reports stress immediacy and harm, academic work stresses comparative baselines, and trackers document legal and incident-level detail. Readers should recognize these institutional perspectives when reconciling counts and narratives.
6. Practical answer for a journalist or policymaker seeking a number
If you need a single number for reporting or policy, the defensible approach is to cite a specific source and its definition—for example, the ADL’s 67 incidents (2017–2022) for domestic terror incidents, or the average of 20 incidents/year (2011–2024) from the 2025 study—while explicitly noting the limits of extrapolating a complete 2020–present total [2] [1]. For a comprehensive picture, combine incident data, fatality counts, and group inventories and state methodology up front; asserting an aggregate without such framing risks overstatement and misinterpretation [4] [3].
7. Bottom line: Evidence points to serious and lethal right-wing violence, but not a single agreed attack count since 2020
The evidence across trackers and studies consistently shows right-wing extremist violence has been a significant and often lethal component of U.S. domestic terrorism, yet the field lacks a single accepted tally of attacks since 2020 because of definitional and methodological variation. Use source-specific figures with their definitions, and pair incident counts with fatality and group data to convey scale, lethality, and evolving trends—this preserves accuracy while adding needed context for readers and policymakers [6] [1] [3].