After Surge During Pandemic, Homicides Fall Significantly

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In fact, the new analysis suggests that the broad crime surge that took place during the pandemic has largely reversed itself. Of 13 categories of crimes that the council tracks, only one — car theft — remains higher than in 2019, the year before the pandemic. But the council’s study is limited to a sampling of 42 American cities whose police departments release data on a timely basis, and for which it can make comparisons to crime levels just before the pandemic. The smallest city in the study is Cary, N.C., and the largest is New York City.

The findings of the council’s study through the first six months of this year largely align with other private sources of data that offer clues to national trends about crime. The F.B.I. has typically provided official nationwide crime data once a year. It last released nationwide statistics in September 2024.