The Epoch Times conducted an analysis of crime data from the top ten most populous cities in the United States to determine if crime rates have been rising or falling since 2019, particularly focusing on the offenses of murder, robbery, aggravated assault, and car theft. These crimes tend to be the most reliably reported to police departments.
New York City has seen a surge in violence since mid-2020, with shootings doubling that year and car theft increasing by 66 percent according to NYPD data. Car theft continued to rise throughout 2021, resulting in 488 people murdered—the most in a decade.
In 2022, murder rates decreased by about 10%, but instances of other serious crimes remained high. Car theft was up by over 150% from 2019, and major theft (items worth more than $1,000) and felony assaults reached numbers not seen since the 1990s. While violent crime has slightly subsided in 2023, with murder rates dropping by another 11%, car thefts and felony assaults have increased again.
Los Angeles follows a similar trajectory to New York City, with crime surging in 2020 and continuing to rise until 2022. Crime appears to have declined slightly in 2023, but murder rates are still 30% above the 2019 level. Felony assault is up by about 17%, and car theft is up by more than 70.
Chicago experienced a massive spike in murder in 2016, but managed to get it under control by 2019. However, violence exploded anew in 2020 and continued upward into 2021, resulting in 811 murders—the most since 1995. Murder rates have decreased since 2022, but other crimes continue to rise, with robbery up by 40%, aggravated battery up by 4%, and car theft up by 150. Nearly 30,000 cars were stolen in Chicago last year—the most since at least the year 2000.
Houston was already dealing with a surge in violence that started in 2015 when another wave hit in 2020. The following year, Houston recorded 471 murders, its highest homicide rate since 1994. While the violence has eased somewhat since then, last year’s murder rates were still more than 20% higher than in 2019. In the first four months of this year, murders appear to have further decreased, but aggravated assaults remain almost 20% above the same period in 2019 and car theft is nearly 50% higher.
Phoenix experienced a spike in violence in 2016 and another increase in 2020, peaking in 2022 with 217 people killed—the city’s highest murder rate since 2007. In the first quarter of this year, Phoenix managed to reduce murders due to a particularly calm March, but car thefts and aggravated assaults barely budged, while robberies are up by 17% compared with the first quarter of 2023.
The Epoch Times’ analysis of crime data from the top ten most populous cities in the United States indicates that violent crimes have increased since 2019, particularly during the years 2020 and 2021 when spikes were observed across multiple cities. While some cities have seen slight decreases in violent crime rates in recent years, overall trends suggest an upward trend in crime rates throughout the United States.
