Published on November 3, 2025
President Trump announced in October that he would consider dispatching military troops to New York City, in an effort to reduce crime and violence. The deployment would make New York City another American city to which the Trump administration has sent, or signaled an intention to send, the National Guard to conduct law enforcement operations.
This brief reviews crime trends in New York City using data from the Council on Criminal Justice Mid-Year 2025 Crime Trends report, released in July 2025. That report examined offenses recorded by law enforcement in New York City, San Francisco, Baltimore, Washington, Chicago, Memphis, and 36 other American cities from 2018 through June 2025.
From 2019 to 2025, several categories of crime increased in New York City, though rates for each offense remained low compared with other large cities, with the exception of robbery.
- Homicides in the first half of 2025 were 3% higher than during the same period in 2019, but New York City’s homicide rate was lower than all but three cities in the sample.Â
- Robbery and larceny also rose, by 17% and 13%, respectively. New York City’s robbery rate was in the top third of cities in the sample, while its larceny rate was in the bottom third.
- Motor vehicle theft showed the steepest increase, up 191% from 2019 to 2025, consistent with national patterns. Even so, New York City’s rate was lower than every other city in the sample except one.
The charts below present six-month trends for five offenses in New York City. Monthly counts and rates for New York City and other cities in the sample can be explored in the offense dashboard at the bottom of the CCJ Mid-Year 2025 Crime Trends report. Data for eight other violent and property crimes collected in the sample cities were not available for New York City.
Please note the following limitations: The cities included in this analysis are not necessarily representative of all jurisdictions in the United States. Not all cities published data for each offense (see the Appendix of the Mid-Year 2025 Crime Trends report for which cities reported which offenses), and trends in offenses with fewer reporting cities should be viewed with extra caution. In addition, not all crimes are reported to law enforcement, and the data collected for this report are subject to revision by local jurisdictions.
Homicide
Figure 1 shows New York City’s homicide rate in six-month intervals (January to June and July to December) from January 2018 through June 2025. In the first half of 2025, New York City’s homicide rate was 16% lower than in the first half of 2024. The average change in the 30 study cities with data for that crime was -17%.
The homicide rate in New York City was 3% higher in the first half of this year (January-June 2025) than it was in the first half of the year before the pandemic (January-June 2019). The average change in 30 large study cities was -14%.
Over the past six years, the highest homicide rate in New York City during the first half of the year was in 2021, when the reported rate was 2.6 per 100,000 residents. The rate during the first half of 2025 (1.6) was 38% below that peak.
In the first half of 2025, New York City’s homicide rate ranked among the lowest in the sample—higher only than Cary, NC, Chandler, AZ, and Lincoln, NE. New York City’s homicide rate was 1.6 per 100,000 residents, compared with 22 per 100,000 in St. Louis, the highest among the 30 cities with homicide data, and 0.5 per 100,000 in Cary, the lowest.
Figure 1. Homicide Rates in New York City, January 2018 – June 2025
Sexual Assault
Figure 2 shows the reported sexual assault rate in New York City in six-month intervals from January 2018 to June 2025. In the first half of 2025, New York City’s sexual assault rate was 20% higher than in the first half of 2024. The average change in the 23 study cities with data for this crime was -10%.
New York City’s sexual assault rate in the first half of 2025 was less than 1% (0.36%) lower than in the first half of 2019, while sexual assault was 28% lower in the study cities.
The highest sexual assault rates in New York City during the first half of the year were in 2019 and 2025, when the reported rates were 9.6 per 100,000 residents.
Note: While most crimes are tracked in similar ways across cities, that is not always the case for sexual offenses. For example, cities included in the CCJ sample may have kept rape and other individual sex offenses separate, combined them, or excluded all three offenses from their data. For this reason, we do not compare New York City sexual assault rates here to rates in other cities.
Figure 2. Sexual Assault Rates in New York City, January 2018 – June 2025
Robbery
Figure 3 shows the reported robbery rate in New York City in six-month intervals from January 2018 to June 2025. In the first half of 2025, New York City’s robbery rate was 17% lower than in the first half of 2024. The average change in the 36 study cities with data for robbery was -20%.
New York City’s robbery rate in the first half of 2025 was 17% higher than in the first half of 2019, while across the study cities robbery fell 30% during that time frame.
The highest robbery rate in New York City during the first half of the year was in 2024, when the reported rate was 99.6 per 100,000 residents. The rate during the first half of 2025 (82.3) was 17% below that peak.
In the first half of 2025, New York City’s robbery rate was in the top third of cities in the sample. New York City’s robbery rate was 82.3 per 100,000 residents, compared with 274 per 100,000 in Baltimore, the highest among the 36 cities with data, and 3.8 per 100,000 in Cary, the lowest.
Figure 3. Robbery Rates in New York City, January 2018 – June 2025
Larceny
Figure 4 shows the reported larceny rate in New York City in six-month intervals from January 2018 to June 2025. In the first half of 2025, New York City’s larceny rate was 9% lower than in the first half of 2024. The average change in the 36 study cities with data for larceny was -12%.
New York City’s larceny rate in the first half of 2025 was 13% higher than in the first half of 2019, while larceny was 19% lower in the study cities.
The highest larceny rate in New York City during the first half of the year was in 2022, when the reported rate was 975.6 per 100,000 residents. The rate during the first half of 2025 (844.2) was 13% below that peak.
In the first half of 2025, New York City’s larceny rate was in the bottom third of cities in the sample. New York City’s larceny rate was 844.2 per 100,000 residents, compared with 1,853.9 per 100,000 in Memphis, the highest among the 36 cities with data, and 411.1 per 100,000 in Cary, the lowest.
Figure 4. Larceny Rates in New York City, January 2018 – June 2025
Motor Vehicle Theft
Figure 5 shows the reported motor vehicle theft rate in New York City in six-month intervals from January 2018 to June 2025. In the first half of 2025, New York City’s motor vehicle theft rate was 9% lower than in the first half of 2024. The average change in the 36 study cities with data for this crime was -25%.
New York City’s motor vehicle theft rate in the first half of 2025 was 191% higher than in the first half of 2019, while motor vehicle theft was 25% higher in the study cities.
The highest motor vehicle theft rate in New York City during the first half of the year was in 2023, when the reported rate was 91.0 per 100,000 residents. The rate during the first half of 2025 (74.5) was 18% below that peak.
In the first half of 2025, New York City’s motor vehicle theft rate ranked among the lowest in the sample—higher only than Chandler. New York City’s motor vehicle theft rate was 74.5 per 100,000 residents, compared with 891.3 per 100,000 in Dallas, the highest among the 36 cities with data, and 59.0 per 100,000 in Chandler, the lowest.
Figure 5. Motor Vehicle Theft Rates in New York City, January 2018 – June 2025
