2020 Was The Deadliest Year For Illinois In The Last Decade

By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. - Chicago:

2020 was a tumultuous year in the United States. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment surged and gun sales spiked. The murder of George Floyd also rattled confidence in law enforcement and sparked nationwide protests. Amid the turmoil, homicide cases jumped by nearly 30%, the largest single-year increase on record.

With 21,570 murders reported in the United States in 2020, the most recent year of available data, the national homicide rate stands 6.5 incidents for every 100,000 people – the highest it has been in over a decade.

2020 was also the deadliest year in Illinois in the last decade, based on FBI homicide rate data from 2011 through 2020. There were 1,151 homicides reported in the state in 2020, or 9.1 for every 100,000 people.

For context, the second deadliest year in Illinois in the last decade was 2016, when the homicide rate was 8.3 for every 100,000 people. Meanwhile, 2014 was the least deadly year, with a homicide rate of 5.4 murders for every 100,000 people.

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This story was originally published by 24/7 Wall St., a news organization that produces real-time business commentary and data-driven reporting for state and local markets across the country.