Driven by an increase in homicides and a rise in cases of aggravated assault, the violent crime rate in the United States rose in 2020, according to FBI data. A bright spot in the latest data was a drop in reported robberies. In the continuity of a multi-oftrend, the number of thefts committed in the United States fell by 9%, from approximately 268,500 in 2019 to 243,600 in 2020.
According to the FBI, robbery is a crime in which force or thcoup de force or violence is used to take or attempt to take something of value from another person. The largest share of robberies in the United States are committed on or near streetswalks. HanFirearms are the most common weapon used in robberies, and more often than not among cases where a suspect can be identified, the assailant and victim are strangers to each other.
The decline in the national robbery rate is driven by particularly steep declines in some US cities.
Using FBI data, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 50 U.S. cities with the fastest declining rates of theft. Cities – defined as places with populations between 2,500 and 25,000 people or more – are ranked by year-to-year change in the number of robberies per 100,000 people. Among the cities on this list, theft rates fell by 394 incidents per 100,000 people. For context, the robbery rate in the United States dropped by 8 incidents per 100,000 in 2020.
Robbery – along with rape, aggravated assault and homicide – is a component of the overall violent crime category. Even though robbery only accounts for a small percentage of all violent crime, most cities on this list also reported an overall drop in violent crime in 2020. Here’s a look at the states where crime is skyrocketing.
The majority of cities on this list are in the South, including eight in North Carolina alone. In more than half of the cities on this list, the robbery rate is lower than the national rate of 74 incidents per 100,000 population. A year earlier, each of these cities had an above-average robbery rate. Here’s a look at the states with the highest theft rates.
Click here to see US cities with declining robbery rates
Click here to read our detailed methodology