A preliminary survey released on Monday found that the rate of violent crime victimization in 2025 fell by about 25% compared with the prior year, a significant drop that the Justice Department claimed represents the largest decline since 1973.
The National Crime Victimization Survey, conducted by the Census Bureau and released by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, found that there were an estimated 669,000 fewer violent crimes, excluding simple assaults, committed in 2025 compared with 2024.
Aggravated assault victimization dropped an estimated 31%, with about 390,000 fewer incidents in 2025, compared with the prior year.
The data for the survey comes from a sample of interviews in U.S. households of people who are 12 or older. The interviewees were asked questions about the frequency, characteristics and consequences of criminal victimization.
The survey for 2025 consisted of 101,980 household interviews. Overall, 53% of eligible households completed interviews, the Bureau of Justice Statistics said.
Other findings from the preliminary results of the survey showed that robbery was down 27% in 2025, property crime victimization was down 19%, burglary and trespassing were down 25% and motor vehicle theft was down 29%.
The preliminary results from the survey bolster findings from earlier this year in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which showed that violent crime rates plummeted in 2025 with the country’s murder rate reaching a 20-year low.
That report, which compiles crime data from most law enforcement agencies across the nation, also recorded significant year-over-year decreases in multiple categories. Aggravated assaults fell by 7.2%, rapes declined by 7.6% and robbery was down about 18.5%.
President Trump and his allies have sought to capitalize on the decrease in violent crime rates as they have campaigned across the country ahead of the midterms to try to help Republicans retain control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In a break from prior traditions, the White House unveiled the findings from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report ahead of a campaign event on Long Island, New York, that was also attended by Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel.
