Latest Data On American Fear Of Crime-Fear Remains High But Improved

Highlights

This article is available as a video podcast on YouTube.

Americans’ views of crime in the U.S. have improved for the second straight year.

49% each view crime as a serious problem, and crime as increasing. 38 percent say it is “moderately serious,” meaning that fear of crime is very high.

49% of U.S. adults currently think there is more crime in the U.S. Only 33 percent say there is less crime.

31% afraid to walk alone at night in the neighborhood, down from 40% in 2023.

Identity theft, financial scams, and children being harmed at school top crime worries. But collective violent and property crime concerns remain the top categories. 

Gallup suggests that the public sees national crime conditions stabilizing after several years of heightened unease. Other sources offer very high rates of fear.

Notes

I use three 2025 Gallup reports for this article, and each offers a different perspective on crime and fear. I use additional research for context.

I mostly use Gallup’s wording in the overviews below. My synopsis of Gallup’s main report is at the bottom of this article. 

This article refers to crimes reported to law enforcement, and the great majority of crimes are NOT reported. The article refers to declining city-reported crime, and according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey, only 38 percent of violent crimes are reported in urban areas.

Quote

Politico: Emanuel said Democrats should stop crouching behind falling crime statistics that don’t match voters’ perceptions. “Nobody can be complacent or comforted by a statistic,” he added.

Article

Fear or concerns about crime were at record highs in 2023 and have improved per Gallup. 

But half of the country sees crime as serious and increasing, or “extremely” or “very” serious.

There are an endless number of terms used by survey research organizations to gauge concerns, but “extremely or very serious” is at the top of the list for intensity.  Per most surveys of American concerns, the “extremely or very serious” category is usually cited by a small number of those participating.

National Priorities

If you follow national priorities (using a different set of criteria), the numbers regarding crime and related issues are concerning. Per Pew, (2024), improving the job situation, improving the energy situation, protecting the environment, dealing with problems affecting poor people, improving transportation, improving the military, addressing climate change, addressing race issues, and global trade all rank less than crime as American priorities.

National priority issues related to crime remain highly important, according to Pew. Terrorism came in as second, reducing crime was 7th, dealing with illegal immigration was 8th, and reducing the availability of illegal drugs was 9th.

Gallup’s Global Crime And Fear Index (2025)

This is a separate and recent report from Gallup. Fear of crime decayed for the US and Canada (it’s mostly a US finding based on population and methodology). Most countries saw improvements in perceptions of crime.

On a global level (excluding North America and parts of Africa), people feel safer today than they have in years.

For the current four-question Law and Order Index in 2024, focusing on crime and fear, the US ranked 54th out of 144 countries. Eight countries had the same score as the US; thus, the United States had a de facto rank of 46.

The United States ranked 64th solely using “Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?” Iraq, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Libya, Albania, and multiple other countries scored higher than the US. Four countries had the same score as the US; thus, the United States had a de facto rank of 60.

Is Anything Changing To Prompt Less Fear of Crime?

The US lost 25,000 police officers and employees according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but there are reports that we “may” be seeing some stabilization in the numbers of police officers (especially for smaller agencies) rather than reductions. The rate of decline has slowed, and hiring has increased per Google AI, but it will take years to regain previous staffing patterns. 

Crimes reported (the vast majority are not) to law enforcement in cities are seeing substantial reductions.

However, at the national level, per the FBI, the reductions in violent crime are small, ranging from approximately 3 to 4 percent in 2023 and 2024. Violent crime is down 8 percent thus far in 2025 (but those numbers will change when the full report for 2025 is offered in the Fall of 2026). Early numbers from the FBI are usually an overestimate and should be used with caution.

There is a slight growth in correctional numbers for those on parole and probation per the Bureau of Justice Statistics, indicating that more offenders are being held accountable (upcoming article). Also, per BJS, the inmate count is inching up.  At year’s end 2023, correctional authorities in the United States had jurisdiction over 1,254,200 persons in state or federal prisons, an increase of 2% or 24,100 persons from 2022 (1,230,100 persons). 

Crimes reported to law enforcement are beginning to improve slightly, per the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

There is some evidence that crimes solved are increasing. It’s a small increase for violent crimes, but it’s improving. It’s been dismal for many years.

Crime was an immensely important topic in the last national election, with President Trump pledging to support police officers who “may” be returning to proactive policing. Proactive policing is one of the most successful modalities we have to reduce crime, according to the National Academy of Sciences.

Per criminology studies, the most important element in changing the attitudes of criminals is the certainty of apprehension. There are early signs that accountability is improving after police agencies greatly lessened their proactivity after public disturbances related to the police use of force.

Via the Associated Press, there is, however, data indicating that concern about crime in cities is declining. 

Per the USDOJ, Violent Crime Remains At Very High Levels

However, per the USDOJ’s National Crime Victimization Survey, violent crime rates increased by 44 percent in 2022, and rates have remained level in 2023 and 2024 (last official report).

It’s the largest increase in violent crime in the nation’s history.

One source states that NCVS violent crime rates increased 80 percent for urban areas. ChatGPT verifies it, but the 2020 baseline comparison is problematic due to the pandemic’s impact on crime and survey methodology.

Per the NCVS, violence increased in urban areas per their 2024 report. This is in stark contrast to the crime drop in cities based on crimes reported to law enforcement.

Gallup’s crime numbers (a separate 2025 Gallup report) use the National Crime Victimization Survey as to trend lines that show 2022-2024 increases in violent crime.

The Highest Rate Of Fear Of Crime Was In 2023

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe crime was an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the U.S., according to a Gallup poll in November 2023. The 63 percent rate is the highest collected by Gallup, with the previous high of 60 percent found in 2000, 2010, and 2016. 

A small proportion of respondents considered crime extremely serious in their local communities — 17 percent — but more than half of them believe crime has gone up in their area. Nationally, about three-quarters of Americans believed crime has gone up, underlining the tough-on-crime political narrative of conservative politicians.

Context-Other Sources

 

Both of these measures worsened after 2018, as perceptions of rising crime in the early 2020s hit levels last reached in the 1990s and views of the seriousness of crime hit a record-high 63%. The latest findings, from Gallup’s Oct. 2025 annual Crime poll, show that Americans now view national crime conditions more favorably than at any point in recent years, returning to levels similar to the early 2000s.

In addition to the 49% of U.S. adults who currently think there is more crime in the U.S., 33% say there is less and 8% volunteer that there is about the same amount of crime. Besides the 17% of U.S. adults who think crime is “extremely” or 32% “very” serious, 38% say it is “moderately,” 8% “not too” and 2% “not at all” serious.

Views of National Crime Have Improved Among Most Subgroups Since 2023

Perceptions of crime as a problem in the U.S. and its trajectory in the previous year have improved across nearly all demographic subgroups since 2023.

In 2023, majorities of U.S. adults across party identification, gender, annual household income and type of community groups said the crime problem in the U.S. was at least very serious. Among those groups today, majorities of Republicans, women, those with annual household incomes under $40,000 and residents of rural areas say the same.

Views of Local Crime Also Improved

Americans have consistently seen crime in their local areas as less serious than crime in the country at large. That is still the case, and there have also been declines in perceptions that local crime is a serious problem and that it is increasing.

The 30% of Americans now reporting that there is more crime in their local area than a year ago is down 19 points since last year. Meanwhile, the 12% of Americans who say the crime problem in their local area is extremely or very serious is not significantly different from last year’s 14%, but it is down from the trend high point of 17% in 2023.

Fear of Walking Alone at Night in Local Area Continues to Decline

Another Gallup question on Americans’ perceptions of local crime gauges their comfort walking alone at night in the area where they live. This measure, which has been tracked since 1965, finds 31% of Americans currently reporting that there is an area within a mile of their home where they would be afraid to walk alone at night, and 68% saying there is not.

Two years ago, the percentage saying they were afraid to walk alone in a local area at night reached 40%, its highest point since 1993. Last year, it was at 35%; and now, it is just two points away from the trend low recorded in 2020.

Being Victimized 

Overall, Americans worry most about being the victim of identity theft (69%) and being tricked into providing financial information to scammers (53%). These are the only crimes included in the survey about which majorities say they worry frequently or occasionally.

Meanwhile, 43% of all U.S. adults worry about a school-aged child of theirs being physically harmed at school, but this rises to 60% of parents of school-aged children.

Fewer Americans say they worry about crimes, such as having a car stolen (39%) or their home burglarized (34%), being a victim of a hate crime (30%), or getting mugged (29%), attacked while driving (27%), murdered (22%) or sexually assaulted (21%). Yet collectively, violent and property crimes far outweigh the top three categories.

Gallup’s Bottom Line

Americans’ views of crime in the U.S. have improved notably for the second straight year, reversing the pessimism seen earlier in the decade. Less than half now describe such crime as a very or extremely serious problem or believe it has risen in the past year.

Perceptions have brightened across nearly all demographic subgroups, and assessments of local crime have followed, as far fewer adults report increases in crime where they live and a growing share feel safe walking alone at night.

These shifts mark a continued return to the more positive attitudes last seen in the early 2000s, suggesting the public sees national crime conditions stabilizing after several years of heightened unease. National crime statistics confirm Americans’ belief, as FBI data show a 4.5% decrease in U.S. crime in 2024 (Editor’s note: The National Crime Victimization Survey indicates increases and very high rates of violent crime for its latest reports).

Still, Americans’ improved assessments of national and local crime do not eliminate personal anxiety about victimization. Majorities of adults remain worried about being targets of financial crimes such as identity theft or scams, and parents continue to fear for their children’s safety at school.

Conclusions

The criminological literature is very clear: fear of crime concerns can destroy cities, the psychological well-being of citizens, test scores of students, economic development, and jobs are all impacted.

Criminology also states that people judge their concerns about crime based on a variety of variables, including signs of disorder, media reports, young people hanging out in the community, graffiti, or any other condition that makes citizens uncomfortable. Official crime counts are not nearly as important as what people feel about the conditions in or near their communities.

To some observers, fear or concerns about crime may be the most important index of crime in America. 

But when half of the country sees crime as increasing, or “extremely” or “very” serious, and 38 percent say it is “moderately serious,” we have a concerning problem to address. If we do not, cities, school test scores, and the overall economy will deteriorate.

Data indicates that an increased police presence lowers fear, but that’s challenging because of a loss of police officers and long response times in some cities.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT fact-checked this article. I used Google AI for one index. 

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