A preliminary government survey released on Monday found that violent crime victimization in the United States decreased by approximately 25% in 2025 compared to the previous year. The data, published by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), indicates the largest single-year decline in victimization rates since the survey began in 1973. Officials estimated there were 669,000 fewer violent crimes, excluding simple assaults, during this period.
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is conducted annually by the Census Bureau for the BJS. The 2025 preliminary results were based on 101,980 household interviews with individuals aged 12 and older. Unlike police-reported data, this survey measures both crimes reported to law enforcement and those that go unreported, capturing details on the frequency and consequences of criminal incidents directly from victims.
Specific categories showed double-digit percentage drops according to the victimization data. Aggravated assault victimization fell by 31%, representing approximately 390,000 fewer incidents. Robbery declined by 27%, while property crime victimization decreased by 19%. Additionally, motor vehicle theft fell by 29%, and burglary and trespassing saw a 25% reduction. These figures align with earlier FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data, which showed the national murder rate reaching a 20-year low in 2025.
The reported 25% decline in victimization affects U.S. residents aged 12 and older. For households, the data suggests a reduction in property-related crimes. While the survey included over 100,000 interviews, the BJS noted that 53% of eligible households completed the process.
The Justice Department characterized the drop as the largest decline since 1973. This data provides a secondary metric to the FBI's UCR, which reported a 7.2% drop in aggravated assaults and an 18.5% drop in robberies based on submissions from 17,075 law enforcement agencies. Because the NCVS captures crimes not reported to police, these findings offer a broader view of criminal activity. President Trump and his allies have sought to capitalize on these figures ahead of midterm elections. The White House unveiled the findings from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report ahead of an event attended by Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel.
The next steps for this data involve a sample redesign scheduled for 2026. This redesign, conducted every ten years, will update the survey's geographic and demographic focus to reflect the 2020 decennial census. While preliminary 2025 data is now public, the FBI's Crime Data Explorer continues to update trends, with figures as of October 15, 2026, showing an 8.6% drop in murders and a 21.5% drop in motor vehicle thefts for the period between July 2025 and June 2026. Finalized annual reports typically follow these preliminary releases.