In Baltimore, among the U.S. cities most battered by violent crime over the past decade, murders are now at their lowest level in half a century.
Baltimore also has fewer people than it used to, so its murder rate isn’t quite that low relative to past decades. At 31 homicides per 100,000 residents over a recent 12 month period, that rate is also still appallingly high. (In crime statistics, homicide is murder plus non-negligent manslaughter, and the terms tend to be used interchangeably.) The national homicide rate was 5.7 per 100,000 people in 2023, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is probably below five by now — low by historical standards though still quite high compared with other developed countries.
Still, even adjusted for population, Baltimore’s trajectory is extremely encouraging.
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