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As President Donald Trump’s first year back in the White House comes to a close, newly released data on the nation’s homicide rate spells good news for the administration and Americans alike.
According to a sampling of preliminary crime statistics from 550 U.S. law enforcement agencies, 2025 experienced the largest one-year drop in homicides ever recorded, crime experts told ABC News.
The figure, showing a decrease in homicides of around 20 percent, represents data from small and large cities. In fact, the number of homicides nationally is expected to be at its lowest since the FBI began tracking these levels in 1960.
Six major cities—Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New Orleans—experienced the biggest drop in homicides, according to the report.
President Trump previously deployed the U.S. National Guard to D.C. in August to quell violent crime overtaking the city. Now, the nation’s capital city has experienced a 31 percent drop in homicides, the report found.
The president also deployed National Guard members to New Orleans on Tuesday, having them serve as a further security presence after the 2025 New Year’s celebration attack that killed 14 people.
New Orleans experienced a 16 percent drop in homicides in 2025.
The president previously deployed National Guard members to Chicago in October, which experienced a 30 percent drop in homicides in 2025. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled in December that the Trump administration could no longer deploy troops to Illinois without the state’s consent.
Likewise, homicides in New York City fell 21 percent, in San Francisco by 20 percent and in Philadelphia by 16 percent.
Crime in other areas also fell dramatically in 2025, the report found.
Aggravated assault also fell by 8 percent, and motor vehicle theft decreased by 23 percent.
While the FBI’s official annual report on crime will likely not be released until the second quarter of 2026, experts told ABC that their assessment relies on preliminary data from a sampling of law enforcement agencies, along with the Real-Time Crime Index.
