According to a report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, 69 city agencies across the country recorded decreased rates of violent crime and homicide between January and March 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.
Nationwide, violent crime — including robberies, rapes, and aggravated assaults — decreased by an average of 14% in the first quarter of 2025, according to 68 of the 69 police departments.
Some standout cities include Denver and Aurora, Colorado. According to the report, homicides in Denver fell by 58%, while they fell by 36% in Aurora.
During his campaign, President Trump singled out Aurora, claiming it was “overrun by Venezuelan gangs,” but based on the preliminary reports from the MCCA, the aforementioned 36% drop in homicides in the first three months of the year follows a 5% drop from all of 2024, as well.
And it’s not because of the Trump administration's indiscriminate deportation strategy, with recent reports showing that most people who have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Colorado so far in 2025 have no criminal history.
In Denver, Mayor Mike Johnston said last month that “the data is heading in the right direction,” crediting “thoughtful” engagement with the community for decreases in crime.
“What I’m most proud of is the fact that we’ve been able to make these significant strides in public safety without having to over-police communities,” Denver’s police chief, Ron Thomas, added, according to Axios Denver.
Other major cities in the report show decreased rates of violent crime, as well, including Honolulu (down 82%), Minneapolis (54%), Dallas (44%), and Philadelphia (28%).
Baltimore is also seeing a trend in decreased homicides. According to WYPR, Baltimore hit a new “record low” for monthly homicides in April, with five reported killings. While still devastating, that is the lowest number of homicides recorded in a single month since the city began keeping such records in 1970.
The total number of homicides recorded in Baltimore so far in 2025 — 39 reported killings — is the lowest it has been at the start of any recorded year so far.
“The tireless dedication of so many across our city is making a real difference and truly saving lives,” said Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Richard Worley in a statement to WYPR, adding that April is the second month in 2025 where Baltimore’s homicides were in the single digits.
“While there is still much work to be done, these numbers show that we’re moving in the right direction, together,” Worley added.
Another major city — Seattle — has reported that homicide rates have plummeted by 41% in the first half of this year, compared to the same time in 2024, the fewest murders recorded since 2019.
According to the Seattle Police Department’s crime dashboard, shootings are down by 29%, car thefts by 25%, and violent crime overall by 12%.
All of these examples speak to a broader trend of decreases in violent crime, with most data falling back to pre-pandemic levels across most parts of the country.
In the first full year of the pandemic, the FBI counted a roughly 34% increase in violent crime nationwide, which, according to Vox, was the sharpest one-year rise in the modern era of record-keeping following a major drop in the 1990s and 2000s.
Vox also reported that the COVID-19 pandemic was likely to blame for a large increase in violent crime, with young men more vulnerable out of school; the closure of a number of social services; increased stress across the general public; and a rapidly eroding trust of policing following the murder of George Floyd in the spring of 2020.
But, as recent data shows, things have begun to settle.
The Real-Time Crime Index has homicides down nearly 22% nationwide, with violent crime down 11%.
Vox points to both federal and local governments taking action as a potential explanation for the decrease in violence. When President Joe Biden took office, he funnelled millions of dollars into community violence interruption programs.
In Detroit, a city where homicide numbers are at their lowest since 1965, according to NPR, the city invested $10 million in six community organizations designed to reduce violence through community interventions.
“You have outreach workers who have lived, shared experiences that are the ones who establish these relationships,” Negus Vu, the executive director of The People’s Action in Detroit, told NPR.
“And because these relationships are genuine and sincere, they're able to refer them to get wraparound services such as substance abuse, job referrals, therapy.”
Essentially, he said, if people’s needs are met, they will be less likely to turn to violence.
Baltimore’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy has also taken on a similar approach, bringing together community groups and law enforcement to deter people from gun violence.
Although 47% of Americans say they worry “a great deal” about crime and violence, and the president himself continues to claim that immigrants are driving increased crime rates across the country, the numbers tell a different story.
“The numbers are there,” Vu told NPR. “We’ve shown collectively that what we're doing is impactful, effective, and is saving lives.”
