Are There Violent Or Property Crimes That Are Increasing?

Highlights

 

Background–A One-Day Search For Crime News

The point of offering a one-day Google search for the word “crime” is to provide examples of what citizens encounter daily beyond their own personalized experiences. The vast majority of crime stories, such as homicides, frauds, juvenile violence, and sex offenses, were not included:

A new survey by Tri State Gate reveals a paradox. When asked whether crime in their neighborhood has gotten worse, almost 7 in 10 Americans say no. Yet ask the same people whether they feel genuinely safe inside their own homes, and only 28% say yes. 

In Durham, Violent crime (homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) increased by 4.6% during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. 

The study, part of CNBC’s annual report on America’s top states for business, gave the Volunteer State (Tennessee) an overall F grade for quality of life. The network similarly called it one of the worst states to live in, having one of the highest violent crime rates in the country, and the third-highest rate of drug deaths.

FBI reported assaults against law enforcement officers reached a 10-year high.

The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report shows cyber-enabled crimes defrauded Americans of nearly $21 billion, with cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence-related complaints among the costliest.

For the first quarter of 2026, there have been 20 reported fatal shooting incidents in the city (New Orleans). This is an increase of eight incidents compared to the same period in 2025.

A man accused of shooting Pittsburgh (San Francisco area) police officer inside police headquarters last week made his first court appearance Wednesday to face four felony counts, including attempted murder.

Mayoral candidates decry Chicago violence ‘crisis.

North Carolina mountain town (Asheville) ‘whitewashing’ violence amid crime concerns, says pastor with former gang ties. 

Analysis

I read multiple crime summaries daily from national and local sources. There are endless examples of violence and concerns about crime.

I acknowledge that reported violent and property crime has decreased considerably, and yes, it’s great news. But I keep reading how cities and states are experiencing increases in forms of violent and property crime. 

It’s always the same question: why is my city experiencing an increase in categories of violent crime while it’s plummeting throughout the country?

The point of this article is not to dispute reductions in reported crime. It’s wonderful news. But police and city administrators, plus community leaders, are still dealing with serious violent and property crime issues that seem to be downplayed by a narrative that overall US crime has decreased, which may be connected to America’s high fear of crime per Gallup.

Reported Crimes

The vast majority of crime goes unreported to law enforcement. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 30 percent of property crime is reported, and when you consider that 70 to 80 percent of what we call crime are property events, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that what we get from the FBI for their crime reports is a small slice of the pie.

About 48 percent of violent crimes are reported.

But these issues also apply to the international community. Out of five countries measured (the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), all indicate that the majority of crimes were not reported to law enforcement. High fear of crime is common. 

So when we discuss crime based on reported events, we are only dealing with a small subset of total criminality.

The Latest US Crime Statistics

Reported violent crime numbers offered by the FBI decreased by approximately 3 to 4.5 percent in 2023 and 2024, according to official yearly reports. It decreased by 9.3 percent in 2025. Decreases continued in 2026; see here. 

However

The National Crime Victimization Survey from the USDOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reports (based on independent analysts) a 44 percent increase in violent crime rates in 2022, with rates remaining similar in 2023 and 2024. 2025 NCVS data will be out soon.

It’s the largest increase in violent crime I’ve seen in decades of writing about crime.

Thus, we have record decreases and increases based on the USDOJ counting method of your choice.

Are Other Forms Of US Violent Crime Increasing?

Per the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a category (or multiple categories) of violent crime increased for 35 of the 66 US cities surveyed. Seven out of 9 Canadian cities had an increase in at least one category of violent crime. Increases in aggravated assaults (the most common violent crime) were apparent. Sixteen US and 3 Canadian cities had increases in homicides.

Per the Guardian, “As cities and states across the US report historic drops in homicides, domestic violence killings remain alarmingly high. In Chicago, where homicides fell from 805 in 2021 to 425 in 2025, killings tied to domestic violence increased by 15% between 2024 and 2025. In Kansas City, Missouri, homicides in general have dropped since 2023, but 2025 was the second deadliest year for homicides tied to domestic violence. In Ohio, too, 2025 was the deadliest year for domestic violence killings, while homicides in general followed the national decrease. Across the US, the share of violent crimes that involve domestic violence has increased from 25% in 2020 to 27.5% in 2024, according to a 2026 FBI report.

Per the Guardian, “Fatal shootings have fallen to historic lows across the US, but teenagers have not shared equally in that progress. According to an analysis by the Trace and the Guardian of the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the gun homicide rate among 15-to-19-year-olds has declined from its peak in 2022, but it’s still roughly the same or higher today than it was before COVID.”

Per The Street, a new report from HALOS, a bodycam company used by Walmart, Target, Kroger, TJ Maxx, H&M, and Aldi, shows potential violence towards employees, and that the impact is quite severe. Two-thirds of frontline workers have experienced customer aggression acutely enough that they’ve considered leaving their job. Nearly 40% say customer aggression has increased over the past 12 months. 

Teen and street takeovers are terrorizing cities throughout the country. It’s impossible to do my daily reading about crime without being exposed to another article on teen takeovers, many (most) having elements of violence or injuries.

Multiple mayors are grappling with crime problems committed by juveniles.

Is Crime Shifting?

Fraud seems to be an increasing part of the US and international crime discussion.

The FBI has included fraud offenders on its most wanted list. The FBI put out a notice that over 150 million driver’s licences and IDs are now being sold on the dark web. The Wall Street Journal states that fake sex related photos and emails are affecting thousands of families.

The Street reports that retail and commercial fraud is also rising, with phone scams (69%), loyalty fraud (51%), and gift card theft or fraud (42%) increasing. We know that kits for fraud are being sold on the dark web, allowing anyone to engage in a new form of crime. The Washington Post is reporting that scammers are flooding your email inbox to hide notices from your bank or credit card company that your credentials are compromised.

INTERPOL released its 2026 Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment in March 2026, stating that financial fraud is among the top global crime threats and fraud-related INTERPOL notices increased by 54% from 2024 to 2025.

Per Gallup, the FBI, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, fraud, identity theft, and computer crimes have become major components of the crime problem.

Per Gallup-Identity Theft And Scams Happen Far More Often Than All FBI Reported Crimes. One could make the case, based on the National Crime Victimization Survey and Gallup, that crime is not receding in the US; it’s just taking on different forms of victimization. Scams cost U.S. adults an estimated $68 billion, more than four times what was reported to federal authorities in 2025

Are Other Forms of Property Crimes Increasing?

In 2025, the FBI reports continued decreases in property crime by 12.4 percent. Decreases include 16.8 percent for burglary, 9.8 percent for larceny, and 22.7 percent for vehicle theft.

Other Sources For Property Crimes

It should be noted that much of the data below uses vastly different methodologies than reported crimes via the FBI and numbers offered by the National Crime Victimization Survey. The years cited may not include 2025 or 2026 findings. Porch piracy reports differ as to year and impact. 

The Street: “Amazon and Walmart hit by $12.8 billion theft surge.” Package theft, or porch piracy, as it’s known, has become a growing problem, according to the latest report issued by Omnisend. “Combining its original research with FBI crime data, the report found that Americans have suffered a loss of roughly $12.8 billion as a result of about 228 million stolen parcels last year alone,” the study showed. Porch piracy is effectively becoming a hidden cost center of e-commerce logistics.

Per Slate and The National Retail Federation, the NRF announced that for the first time in more than three decades, it wouldn’t publish its annual shrink report. Instead, the group decided on a new approach, “The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2024.”  Instead of getting data from retailers themselves, the report went to senior loss prevention and security executives.  This was where the group got the startling information that there had been a 93 percent increase in the average number of shoplifting incidents per year in 2023 compared to before the pandemic, and a 90 percent increase in dollar loss.

Gallup continues to find very high levels of concern about crime. Fear of identity theft is very high. Nearly three-quarters of individuals who say they or their household experienced a scam in 2025 say it had a negative impact on their mental health or well-being.

Overall, adults 60 and older reported losing $2.4 billion in 2024 to fraud, including money lost to investment scams, according to the FTC’s annual report to Congress released Dec. 1. That’s up 26.3% from $1.9 billion in 2023.

There are 120 million porch package thefts in the US. Searches for “stolen package” spike every December, according to Google Trends. The survey indicated that there are far more porch pirate thefts than total reported property crimes to the FBI. The financial toll of these thefts is $16 billion. 

Inside Edition Television offered a report examining storage unit thefts. They observed that storage unit companies often did not report break-ins to law enforcement and cited a storage company in Denver that had 55 burglaries in one year.

The Hill (newspaper of Congress) addresses cargo theft. The numbers we do know are concerning. The average value of each cargo theft is more than $200,000, and according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, there has been a 1,500 percent increase in cargo theft incidents since 2021. Total cargo theft losses increased by 27 percent in 2024 and are projected to rise another 22 percent in 2025.

Check fraud. “This is far from an isolated incident. A recent report from the FBI and United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) shows cases of check fraud nearly doubled between 2021 and 2023 nationwide.”

Mail Theft. “Letter carrier robberies surged by 845 percent nationwide between fiscal 2019 and 2023, from 64 robberies per year to more than 600. High-volume mail theft has skyrocketed 2,500 percent since 2010, with more than 52,000 reported cases in fiscal 2024, according to federal data obtained by the Postal Police Officers Association.” Washington Post.

Pew: Most U.S. adults (73%) say they’ve experienced some kind of online scam or attack across age groups. Many get scam calls, texts, and emails at least weekly.

So the FBI may be recording decreases in property crimes in 2024 and 2025, but the National Crime Victimization Survey offers stability in rates and numbers over time, indicating small decreases for 2024.

The data from the agencies above includes various dates, suggesting increases. Those increases are obviously not making it into FBI property crime statistics. The data from these different sources cover different years and use different methodologies. Many of the increases they identify therefore do not appear in the FBI’s conventional property-crime statistics.

Conclusions

Regardless of the media articles addressing historic decreases in reported crimes, problems remain for crime in America.

Yes, homicides and shootings are down, and it’s great news that everyone is taking credit for.

But can we ignore the huge increase in rates of violent crime, per the USDOJ’s National Crime Victimization Survey? What about the cities experiencing increases in categories of reported violent crime?

Can we ignore the huge increases in fraud that are wiping out people’s financial future? There are now millions of people, including many seniors, who are disengaging from digital devices that help them keep track of friends and the larger world.

Can we ignore increases in many forms of property crime that are having a major impact on companies and the overall economy?

Can we ignore that the majority of Americans express a fear of crime, per Gallup?

Yes, we can celebrate the reductions in reported crime while recognizing that the bulk of Americans are confused. Their lives remain a barrage of fraud attempts, teen takeovers, growing categories of violent crime, and increased prices through expanding property crimes that are passed on to consumers. 

Again, no one disputes the reductions in violent and property crimes based on reported crimes offered by the FBI. But celebrations are one thing. Ignoring the bulk of Americans expressing concerns about crime is something else.