The national homicide rate in the U.S. continued its historic decline in the first half of 2026, although eight cities — including San Francisco, Dallas, and Norfolk, Virginia — saw spikes compared to the same period in 2025, a new study finds.
The downward trend continues from last year, which saw the largest single year-over-year drop and likely the lowest murder rate in the U.S. since 1900, pending the final FBI crime statistics for the year.
This year, the picture was slightly more nuanced: in 21 of the 30 cities surveyed in 2026, there was an average homicide rate drop of 18% from January to June, according to new data analysis released Thursday by the Council on Criminal Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization…