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Aug. 16, 2025 — Not surprisingly, President Trump’s recent claims about DC’s homicide rate are exaggerated. What is true, looking at 35 years of data from DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (1990-2024):
(1) The 187 homicides in 2024 were far fewer in number than those in the period from 1990 to 2003 (where annual homicides ranged from a low of 232 to a high of 474).
(2) By the same token, those same 187 homicides were distinctly higher than the numbers recorded in the period from 2009 to 2019 (where annual homicides ranged from a low of 88 to to a high of 166).
(3) During the four-year “Covid surge” (2020 to 2023), the average number of homicides per year was 225.25. As such, the 2024 numbers represented an approximately 17 percent drop from that four-year average.
(4) In all years for which the data were available, victims were overwhelmingly Black, ranging from 87 to 96 percent. This number is striking for two reasons. Non-Hispanic Black population in DC during the period looked at was never higher in number (395,213) nor in percentage (65.1 percent) than in 1990. So the percentage of Black victims was already disproportionately high. The percentage of Black victims remained relatively constant over time, even though, by 2020, the number of non-Hispanic DC residents had fallen to 282,066 (a drop of 28.6 percent), and non-Hispanic Black residents as a percentage of all DC residents had fallen to 40.9 percent (a relative drop in percentage of 37.2 percent). That means that an extraordinarily high percentage of homicides victims continued to be Black even as non-Hispanic Blacks came to comprise less and less of DC’s population.
Year | # of homicides | % of victims who were Black |
|---|---|---|
2024 | 187 | N/A |
2023 | 274 | 91 |
2022 | 203 | 94 |
2021 | 226 | 93 |
2020 | 198 | 96 |
2019 | 166 | 92 |
2018 | 160 | 96 |
2017 | 116 | 92 |
2016 | 135 | 91 |
2015 | 162 | 90 |
2014 | 105 | 93 |
2013 | 104 | 87 |
2012 | 88 | 92 |
2011 | 108 | 90 |
2010 | 132 | 88 |
2009 | 144 | 92 |
2008 | 186 | 88 |
2007 | 181 | 93 |
2006 | 169 | 94 |
2005 | 196 | 93 |
2004 | 198 | 96 |
2003 | 248 | 93 |
2002 | 262 | 93 |
2001 | 232 | 92 |
2000 | 242 | 92 |
1999 | 241 | 89 |
1998 | 260 | 91 |
1997 | 301 | N/A |
1996 | 397 | N/A |
1995 | 360 | N/A |
1994 | 399 | N/A |
1993 | 454 | N/A |
1992 | 443 | N/A |
1991 | 482 | N/A |
1990 | 474 | N/A |
Crime data were taken from Metropolitan Police Department reports and data tables.
2024: 2024 Year End Crime Data (when you get to link, scroll down on page)
2019-2023: 2023 Annual Report (at 36)
2014-2018: 2018 Annual Report (at 20)
2009-2013: 2013 Annual Report (at 23)
2004-2008: 2008 Annual Report (at 19)
1996-2003: 2001-2005 Statistical Report (at 22 for 1996-2000 total homicides; at 25 for 2001-2003 total homicides and victim profile); 2000 Annual Report (at 17 for 2000 victim profile); 1999 Annual Report (at 21 for 1999 victim profile); 1998 Annual Report (at 19 for 1998 victim profile);
1990-1995: 1998 Annual Report (at 16-17 for total homicides)
Population data for 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 were taken from Social Explorer.
Note: Data of victim profile in the reports were rounded to the nearest whole percentage. We simply added the percentage listed for “Black Males” to the percentage listed for “Black Females.” This shorthand can introduce minor error (the better method — but more time-consuming method for an August Saturday — is to add the raw numbers in both categories, divide by the total number, and only then round to the nearest whole number. In this circumstance, the scope of potential error would be immaterial.