A preliminary federal survey released on Monday found that the rate of criminal victimization in the United States dropped by about 25% in 2025 compared with the year before. The Justice Department said the decline is the largest recorded since 1973.
The National Crime Victimization Survey is conducted by the Census Bureau and published by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. It estimated that there were 669,000 fewer violent crimes in 2025 than in 2024, a figure that leaves out simple assaults.
Aggravated assault victimization fell by an estimated 31%, which amounts to roughly 390,000 fewer incidents than in the prior year. Robbery was down 27%.
Property crime also declined. According to the preliminary results, overall property crime victimization dropped 19%, burglary and trespassing fell 25%, and motor vehicle theft decreased 29%.
The survey draws on interviews with people aged 12 or older in households across the country. Respondents are asked about how often they experience crime, what those incidents look like and what consequences follow. The 2025 edition included 101,980 household interviews, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics said 53% of eligible households completed an interview.
The preliminary figures reinforce findings published earlier this year in the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, which showed violent crime falling sharply in 2025 and the national murder rate reaching a 20-year low. That report compiles data from most law enforcement agencies nationwide. It recorded a 7.2% drop in aggravated assaults, a 7.6% decline in rapes and a decrease of about 18.5% in robbery.
President Trump and his allies have tried to benefit politically from the falling crime numbers as they campaign around the country ahead of the midterm elections. Their goal is to help Republicans keep control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In a departure from past practice, the White House presented the FBI's Uniform Crime Report findings before a campaign event on Long Island, New York. Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel also attended that event.
