Murder Rate by State 2025

What this chart shows. The murder rate in every US state and the District of Columbia in 2025, as murders and nonnegligent manslaughters per 100,000 residents in the FBI's estimates. The District of Columbia had the highest rate at 16.7, then Louisiana at 8.7, New Mexico at 8.6 and Alabama at 8.5. New Hampshire and Hawaii had the lowest, both at 1.2, ahead of Maine and Massachusetts at 1.4. The national rate was 4.1, down from 5.1 in 2024.

How the data is collected. Each rate is a state's estimated number of murders in the FBI file divided by its population, and the states and DC together add up exactly to the national total of 14,085. Hawaii is an exception worth knowing: its agencies, covering all of its residents, reported 28 murders for 2025, a rate of 2.0, while the FBI's estimate for the state is 17.

Background. The FBI defines murder and nonnegligent manslaughter as the willful, nonnegligent killing of one human being by another. Certain willful killings are reported as justifiable or excusable homicides instead, and those are not part of this count.

Limits. Where murders are few, a handful of cases moves the rate a long way: Vermont had 10 and North Dakota 12. Six states had a higher rate than in 2024, among them Kansas, which rose from 3.9 to 4.8. The District of Columbia recorded 116 murders, and its rate fell from 25.8 in 2024.