US states by violent crimes
California had the highest violent crimes of 51 states in 2020, at 174,026. Vermont had the lowest, at 1,081. The median was 17,353. Source: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
Map of states, 2020
- Under 4,000
- 4,000 to 9,000
- 9,000 to 17K
- 17K to 24K
- 24K to 44K
- 44K and over
All states, 2020
Full ranking
| Rank | States | 2020 | Change on 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 174,026 | -0.2% |
| 2 | Texas | 131,084 | +7.2% |
| 3 | Florida | 83,368 | +2.6% |
| 4 | New York | 70,339 | +0.1% |
| 5 | Illinois | 53,612 | +1.9% |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | 49,793 | +27.2% |
| 7 | Michigan | 47,641 | +8.8% |
| 8 | Tennessee | 46,328 | +13.2% |
| 9 | North Carolina | 44,451 | +11.8% |
| 10 | Georgia | 42,850 | +23.6% |
| 11 | Ohio | 36,104 | +4.3% |
| 12 | Arizona | 35,980 | +10.4% |
| 13 | Missouri | 33,385 | +8.8% |
| 14 | Louisiana | 29,704 | +13.9% |
| 15 | South Carolina | 27,691 | +5.3% |
| 16 | Colorado | 24,570 | +10.9% |
| 17 | Maryland | 24,215 | -12% |
| 18 | Indiana | 24,161 | -3.4% |
| 19 | Washington | 22,596 | -2.2% |
| 20 | Alabama | 22,322 | -9.9% |
| 21 | Massachusetts | 21,288 | -6.1% |
| 22 | Arkansas | 20,363 | +16% |
| 23 | Wisconsin | 18,861 | +9% |
| 24 | Oklahoma | 18,255 | +5.6% |
| 25 | Virginia | 17,925 | +0.1% |
| 26 | New Jersey | 17,353 | -5.6% |
| 27 | New Mexico | 16,393 | -5.3% |
| 28 | Minnesota | 15,698 | +17.2% |
| 29 | Nevada | 14,445 | -5.8% |
| 30 | Kansas | 12,385 | +4.9% |
| 31 | Oregon | 12,380 | -0% |
| 32 | Kentucky | 11,600 | +17.5% |
| 33 | Iowa | 9,601 | +5.7% |
| 34 | Mississippi | 8,638 | +11% |
| 35 | Utah | 8,471 | +11.6% |
| 36 | District of Columbia | 7,127 | -3.7% |
| 37 | Nebraska | 6,473 | +10% |
| 38 | Connecticut | 6,459 | -1.9% |
| 39 | West Virginia | 6,352 | +11% |
| 40 | Alaska | 6,126 | -3.5% |
| 41 | Montana | 5,077 | +13.5% |
| 42 | South Dakota | 4,476 | +27.1% |
| 43 | Idaho | 4,432 | +6.5% |
| 44 | Delaware | 4,262 | +3.2% |
| 45 | Hawaii | 3,576 | -4.5% |
| 46 | North Dakota | 2,518 | +9.4% |
| 47 | Rhode Island | 2,440 | +3.5% |
| 48 | New Hampshire | 2,000 | -7.1% |
| 49 | Maine | 1,466 | -6.1% |
| 50 | Wyoming | 1,364 | +9.4% |
| 51 | Vermont | 1,081 | -16.4% |
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
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, 2020) [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, 2020. 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=2020. 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, 2020. 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=2020.
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, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/downloads, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/violent-crimes/us-states?period=2020 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{federal_us_states_by_violent_2020,
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, 2020}},
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=2020. 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, 2020
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=2020
Y2 - 2026/10/18
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/violent-crimes/us-states?period=2020.
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 -
Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Rank US states by violent crimes using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"violent_crimes","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=violent_crimes&level=region&within=United%20States&limit=10Questions
Which state has the highest violent crimes?
California, with 174,026 in 2020, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
Which state has the lowest violent crimes?
Vermont, with 1,081 in 2020.
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.