Violent crime dropped across every category in the nation's largest cities in 2025, according to a new report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA).
The report, featuring information from 67 of the United States' major police departments, confirms findings from other studies on last year's decline and shows sharp drops across all categories.
The report reveals that homicides fell by 19%, rape by 9%, robberies by 20%, and aggravated assaults by nearly 10%.
Homicides dropped the most in the nation's Sun Belt and Southern cities, including Orlando and Tampa, which led the list with more than a 50% decline. Western cities, including Seattle, Denver, Honolulu, and Albuquerque, also saw large declines.
In addition, Baltimore and Chicago each experienced an approximate 30% homicide drop last year, with Memphis and Portland seeing homicides drop by 25%.
Cities showing rising rates of homicides were Boston, El Paso, Fort Worth, Milwaukee, Omaha, Wichita, Mesa, along with Suffolk and Nassau counties in New York.
The Trump administration on Monday credited its policies for the declines.
"After record high crime across the country under Biden's defund the police era, the murder rate has plunged to a 125-year low as crime falls across the board, according to new data," the White House said.
Last year, President Donald Trump cited rising crime rates as his reason for sending federal troops into cities such as Chicago, Memphis, Portland, Washington, D.C., as well as cities in California, and used the word "hellhole" to describe Chicago and Baltimore.
The White House on Monday said that crime dropped in Washington, D.C., after Trump sent in federal resources to the "crime-plagued" city.
However, studies show violent crime rates began declining during former President Joe Biden's last two years in office following the COVID-era crime spike that began in 2020, Axios reported.
One study suggested that the homicide surge in 2020 was driven by men and teenage boys who were out of work or experienced school closures during the pandemic.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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