States with the Highest Murder Rate: Homicide Trends in the U.S. (2026)

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Report Highlights: The CDC reports murder rates using death certificate information from all 3,144 U.S. counties. Murder rates vary widely between states despite gun control laws.

  • Louisiana and Mississippi had the highest murder rates between 2018 and 2025 (14.3 per 100k and 18.6 per 100k people, respectively).
  • The Southern U.S. was the most dangerous region between 2018 and 2025, with an average homicide rate of 8.6 per 100k.
  • New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Idaho were the safest states in the U.S. in 2024, with rates below 2.0 per 100k.

Related Studies: Urban Violent Crime & Legal Gun Ownership, Gun Deaths in the US,Defensive Gun Use Statistics.

Methodology

Homicides in the U.S. are compiled in the CDC WONDER database. Individual homicides are reported based on death certificate data from all 3,144 U.S. counties. The CDC WONDER database includes justifiable and negligent homicides alike, as well as murders.

We use per capita rates to calculate the rate of homicides in each state to accommodate their various population sizes. Reporting totals alone would suggest that states with larger populations also have relatively more homicides, which isn’t necessarily true. Per capita rates in this article compare numbers of homicides per 100,000 people in each state.

States With the Highest Murder Rates

Between 2018 and 2024, Mississippi had the highest homicide rate in the U.S. at 17.95 per 100k people (on average). Mississippi was followed by Louisiana (16.77 per 100k), Alabama (13.18 per 100k), New Mexico (12.29 per 100k), and Missouri (10.92 per 100k). 1

According to the CDC’s incomplete homicide data in 2025, the states with the highest murder rates remained the same over previous years. Mississippi had the highest murder rate at 9.58 per 100k, with 282 homicides total. Mississippi was followed by Louisiana (8.79 per 100k; 404 homicides), New Mexico (7.32 per 100k; 156 homicides), Alabama (6.98 per 100k; 360 homicides), and Tennessee (6.24 per 100k; 451 homicides). 2

States with the highest homicide rates in the United States

Homicide Trends by Region

The Southeast has had higher homicide rates than any other region dating back to 1968 (when the CDC began compiling death certificate data). 8

Here are some quick facts about each region:

  • The Northeastern U.S. had an average of 4.2 homicides per 100k people (2020–2024). This region also has the highest graduation rate (94%), second highest clearance rate* (63.40%), and highest recidivism rate (40%).
  • The Western U.S. had an average of 5.3 homicides per 100k (2020–2024). This region also has the second lowest graduation rate (90%), highest clearance rate (63.7%), and second highest poverty rate (11%), as well as a low recidivism rate (34%).
  • The Midwest had an average of 7.0 homicides per 100k (2020–2024). This region also has a lower clearance rate (52.4%), as well as a high graduation rate (92%) and low poverty rate (9.8%).
  • The Southeastern U.S. had the highest average number of homicides between 2020 and 2024: 8.6 per 100k. This region has the highest number of police per resident (3.7/1,000), lowest graduation rate (89%), second lowest clearance rate (56.1%), and highest poverty rate (12.4%).

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

*Clearance rate: the proportion of reported crimes solved by law enforcement through arrests or “exceptional means” (e.g. suspect dies or is already incarcerated).

Homicide trends by U.S. region (2020 through 2024)

How Murder Rates Have Changed Over Time

National homicide rates increased by 28.4% between 2019 and 2020. They increased again by 5.9% in 2022, and began declining steadily in 2023.

Forty-five out of 50 states exhibited increased homicide rates and totals between 2019 and 2020. Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, New Mexico, and Missouri consistently had the highest homicide rates. Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Wyoming were the only states with reduced homicide rates during that timespan.

The 2019–2021 increase was driven primarily by large states. California, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Georgia in particular contributed a disproportionate share of additional homicides.

After adjusting for population size, Delaware, Kentucky, New York, South Dakota, and Wisconsin had more rapid increases in homicide rates between 2019 and 2021, indicating that some smaller and mid-sized states exhibited relatively faster increases during the spike.

The 2020–2021 homicide surge by state

The Safest and Most Dangerous States in the U.S.

New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Idaho were the safest states in the U.S. in 2024, with fewer than two homicides per 100k people. Mississippi and Louisiana were the most dangerous states in the U.S., with 18.6 and 14.3 homicides per 100k, respectively.

  • Other Safe States: Massachusetts, Utah, Maine, North Dakota, and Hawaii were among the safest states in 2024, with homicide rates below three per 100k people. 1
  • Other Dangerous States: New Mexico, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia rounded out the most dangerous states in 2024, with more than nine homicides per 100k people. 1
Safest and most dangerous states in the United States

Wrap-Up

Although murder rates increased nationally in 2020, individual states’ murder rates remained relatively constant. Louisiana and Mississippi saw the most significant increases in murder rates, while only a few states’ murder rates declined.

Sources

  1. CDC WONDER Database (2018–2024)
  2. Crime Clearance Rates in the U.S. by Region (2023)
  3. Poverty in the U.S.: 2023 (U.S. Census Bureau)
  4. High School Graduation Rates by State
  5. U.S. Criminal Justice Data (The Sentencing Project)
  6. States Ranking: Recidivism Rates
  7. Murder Rate by Country: 2024
  8. CDC WONDER Provisional Mortality Database

Cassandra McBride

Written by Cassandra McBride. https://ammo.com/research/murder-rate-by-state