Violent crime is falling sharply across the United States, giving President Donald Trump and the White House a major public-safety statistic to highlight as Republicans make law and order a central issue heading into the midterm elections.
The numbers are significant.
FBI data show the nationwide violent-crime rate fell 9.3% from 2024 to 2025 — the largest one-year decline since the agency began producing national estimates in 1936.
Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter dropped 18.1%, while robbery fell 18.5%. Rape declined 7.6%, and aggravated assault decreased 7.2%.
The national murder rate fell to 4.1 per 100,000 people, tying the rates recorded in 1955 and 1956 for the lowest level in the FBI’s historical national estimates.
For Americans concerned about crime, policing and the safety of their communities, those figures represent a dramatic improvement.
White House Highlights Historic Crime Decline
White House senior deputy press secretary Lauren Bis pointed to the falling crime numbers Monday while discussing Trump’s record on public safety.
Bis argued that the administration’s law-and-order agenda deserves greater attention and said Trump would highlight his record during a campaign appearance in the Southeast.
North Carolina, she said, will give the president an opportunity to remind voters about his administration’s approach to crime, immigration and law enforcement.
The White House is expected to make those issues an important part of its message as the midterm elections approach.
Republicans are arguing that stronger law enforcement, tougher border security and increased immigration enforcement are helping make American communities safer.
Democrats and criminal-justice advocates dispute some of the administration’s broader characterizations of their policies and argue that nationwide crime trends cannot be attributed to one president or political party.
But the decline itself is clear in the federal statistics.
Murder Rate Falls to Generational Low
The decline in homicide is particularly noteworthy.
America experienced a substantial increase in murders beginning in 2020, making public safety a major concern in cities and communities across the country.
Those numbers have since moved sharply in the opposite direction.
According to the FBI’s 2025 national statistics, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter declined 18.1% in a single year.
Property crime also dropped 12.4%.
That means the improvement was not confined to one category of crime.
For older Americans who remember the much higher crime rates of previous decades, today’s numbers provide important historical perspective. The national murder rate has returned to a level not recorded in FBI estimates for roughly seven decades.
Crime Decline Appears to Be Continuing in 2026
More recent research indicates that the improvement did not end with the FBI’s 2025 statistics.
An analysis from the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice examined crime trends across dozens of major U.S. cities during the first half of 2026.
Homicides were down 18% compared with the same period in 2025.
Robbery declined 17%, gun assaults fell 6%, aggravated assaults decreased 2%, and carjackings plunged 47% among the cities studied.
The picture was not universally positive. Reported domestic violence increased 8%, while sexual assaults rose 3%.
Still, the overall numbers point toward continued progress in several major categories of violent crime.
Trump Makes Law and Order a Midterm Issue
The Trump administration is connecting the improving crime statistics with a broader argument about law enforcement and immigration.
Bis criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border and said Trump’s immigration policies have allowed federal authorities to focus aggressively on gang members, wanted criminals and people considered national-security threats.
The administration has repeatedly argued that removing dangerous offenders who are in the country illegally protects American families and reduces threats to local communities.
Immigration enforcement remains one of the sharpest dividing lines between Republicans and Democrats.
Republicans generally favor Trump’s tougher enforcement approach, while Democrats have criticized aspects of the administration’s immigration crackdown and challenged some policies in court.
That disagreement is likely to remain a major issue as voters consider control of Congress.
Who Deserves Credit for Falling Crime?
There is an important distinction between the crime statistics themselves and the political debate over who deserves credit.
The decline in violent crime began before Trump’s second term, and criminologists have cautioned that nationwide crime trends are influenced by many factors.
Policing strategies, prosecution, demographics, economic conditions, technology, local policies and changes in social behavior can all influence crime rates.
That makes it difficult to attribute a nationwide decline entirely to a single administration.
Trump and Republicans can nevertheless point to the latest numbers while arguing that their emphasis on law enforcement is consistent with what voters concerned about public safety want to see.
Democrats, meanwhile, can point to the fact that crime had already begun declining before Trump returned to office.
Voters will ultimately decide which argument they find more persuasive.
A Major Development for American Communities
Beyond the political fight over credit, the larger story is good news for American families.
Violent crime has fallen dramatically. Murder is down. Robbery is down. Aggravated assault is down. Property crime is down.
And preliminary evidence from major cities suggests that several of those improvements have continued into 2026.
For Americans who spent years watching headlines about rising murders and violent crime, the reversal deserves attention.
The Trump administration clearly intends to make sure voters hear about it.
Whether the national media gives the falling crime numbers the attention the White House believes they deserve will undoubtedly remain part of the political debate. But the underlying statistics provide something more important than a campaign talking point:
American communities are experiencing one of the most significant declines in violent crime in decades.