US states by violent crimes

California had the highest violent crimes of 51 states in 2018, at 176,604. Vermont had the lowest, at 1,155. The median was 17,357. Source: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

Highest176,604California

Lowest1,155Vermont

Median17,35751 states

Map of states, 2018

Under 4,000
4,000 to 8,000
8,000 to 17K
17K to 25K
25K to 37K
37K and over

count, 2018. Source: FBI, FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2018

count. Source: FBI, FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime. Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2018 count	Change on 2017
1	California	176,604	-1.1%
2	Texas	118,197	-4.7%
3	Florida	81,980	-4.2%
4	New York	68,512	-3.2%
5	Illinois	52,343	-6.2%
6	Michigan	45,176	+0.7%
7	Tennessee	42,687	-2.9%
8	Pennsylvania	39,099	-2.3%
9	North Carolina	36,980	-2.8%
10	Georgia	35,619	-4%
11	Ohio	34,426	-0.6%
12	Arizona	34,053	-4.5%
13	Missouri	30,696	-5.4%
14	Maryland	28,330	-6.6%
15	Alabama	25,567	+0.4%
16	South Carolina	25,463	+0.2%
17	Louisiana	25,314	-2.6%
18	Indiana	25,009	-4.9%
19	Washington	23,719	+5.5%
20	Massachusetts	23,424	-3.7%
21	Colorado	22,851	+9.3%
22	Oklahoma	18,701	+4%
23	New Jersey	18,536	-10%
24	New Mexico	17,637	+8.2%
25	Wisconsin	17,365	-6.8%
26	Virginia	17,357	-2.5%
27	Arkansas	16,904	-0.5%
28	Nevada	16,715	+0.3%
29	Kansas	12,861	+10.4%
30	Minnesota	12,403	-7.1%
31	Oregon	12,146	+4.4%
32	Kentucky	9,719	-5.6%
33	Iowa	8,303	-8.1%
34	Mississippi	7,929	+3.5%
35	Utah	7,551	+0.5%
36	Connecticut	7,485	-8.6%
37	District of Columbia	6,995	+0.3%
38	Alaska	6,555	+3.4%
39	Nebraska	5,583	-6.6%
40	West Virginia	5,411	-17.6%
41	Idaho	4,196	+2.1%
42	Delaware	4,079	-6.8%
43	Montana	4,040	+2.6%
44	Hawaii	3,622	+1.3%
45	South Dakota	3,483	-7.2%
46	New Hampshire	2,404	-9%
47	Rhode Island	2,326	-6%
48	North Dakota	2,154	+1%
49	Maine	1,500	-6.8%
50	Wyoming	1,235	-9.1%
51	Vermont	1,155	+6.7%

Other periods

About this ranking

Estimated number of violent crimes: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault known to law enforcement. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

Rape is counted under the revised definition from 2013 and the legacy definition before. FBI estimates for the whole population: agencies that did not report, or reported part of the year, are filled in by the FBI. The FBI revises earlier years in each annual release, and from 2021 the estimates are built from incident-based (NIBRS) reports. The national series has no values for 2017 to 2020 in the FBI estimates file.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer. FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime. https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/downloads. Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program. (2026). FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime (US states by violent crimes, 2018) [Data set]. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/downloads

MLA 9

FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime, US states by violent crimes, 2018. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, 14 Aug. 2026, https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/downloads. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/violent-crimes/us-states?period=2018. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program. 2026. FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime. US states by violent crimes, 2018. Dataset. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/downloads. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/violent-crimes/us-states?period=2018.

Harvard

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program (2026) FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime, US states by violent crimes, 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/downloads, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/violent-crimes/us-states?period=2018 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{federal_us_states_by_violent_2018,
  author = {{Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program}},
  title = {{FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime: US states by violent crimes, 2018}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/downloads},
  urldate = {2026-10-18},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/violent-crimes/us-states?period=2018. Publisher attribution: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer. FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime. https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/\#/pages/downloads. Retrieved 2026-10-18.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program
TI  - FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime: US states by violent crimes, 2018
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/14
PB  - Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/downloads
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/violent-crimes/us-states?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/violent-crimes/us-states?period=2018.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer. FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime. https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/downloads. Retrieved 2026-10-18.
ER  -

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Questions

Which state has the highest violent crimes?

California, with 176,604 in 2018, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

Which state has the lowest violent crimes?

Vermont, with 1,155 in 2018.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, FBI UCR Summary Reporting System estimated crimes, 1979 on: violent crime. Retrieved 2026-10-18.