Is Crime Up Or Down In Maryland? Here’s What FBI Data Shows

Violent crimes decreased in Maryland last year amid a nationwide plunge in similar crimes, according to the latest statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The FBI on Tuesday released 2024 Uniform Crime Reporting data for more than 14 million criminal offenses across the United States, including in Maryland.

Nationwide, violent crime is down about 4.5 percent from 2023 estimates. That includes drops in murders (14.9 percent), rapes (5.2 percent), robberies (8.9 percent) and aggravated assaults (3 percent). Meanwhile, property crime dropped 8.1 percent last year in the United States, including burglaries (8.6 percent), larcenies (5.5 percent) and vehicle thefts (18.6 percent).

These numbers are the lowest property crime rates and lowest violent crime rates since at least 1969, according to the Center for American Progress.

The FBI noted that despite the reductions, a violent crime still took place every 26 seconds somewhere in America last year.

Maryland saw 26,345 violent crimes with a population of 6,263,220 residents last year, a rate of 420.4 per 100,000 people. That’s down from 27,371 violent crimes in 2023, or 440.3 per 100,000 people.

The state’s violent crime totals were above the national violent crime rate, which came to 359.1 per 100,000 people.

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Maryland experienced 128,369 property crimes last year, a rate of roughly 2,050 per 100,000 people. The statewide total is down from 133,482 property crimes in 2023, or 2,147 per 100,000 people.

Again, Maryland was above the national property crime rate of 1,760 per 100,000 residents.

Here are some previous years of crime statistics in Maryland for comparison:

2022

• Violent: 26,171 (424.5 per 100,000)
• Property: 105,629 (1,713.5 per 100,000)

2021

• Violent: 26,866 (435.1 per 100,000)
• Property: 93,975 (1,522 per 100,000)

2020

• Violent: 24,215 (399.9 per 100,000)
• Property: 97,487 (1,609.8 per 100,000)

2019

• Violent: 27,511 (454.4 per 100,000)
• Property: 118,091 (1,950.3 per 100,000)

2018

• Violent: 28,330 (469.4 per 100,000)
• Property: 122,945 (2,037 per 100,000)

2017

• Violent: 30,321 (503.3 per 100,000)
• Property: 134,705 (2,236 per 100,000)

2016

• Violent: 29,019 (481.7 per 100,000)
• Property: 139,716 (2,319 per 100,000)

2015

• Violent: 28,185 (470.1 per 100,000)
• Property: 142,547 (2,378 per 100,000)

In Maryland, aggravated assaults made up a majority of violent crimes committed in the state. In 2023, 16,097 aggravated assaults were reported, down from 16,572 in 2023. Robberies followed with 7,719 reported to the FBI.

Larceny was the most reported property crime in 2024 at 90,616 cases, up from 86,631 in 2023.

The UCR program was rolled out in 1930. Nonfederal law enforcement agencies from across the country voluntarily submit their crime and law enforcement data to the program. The FBI publishes the contributed data on its Crime Data Explorer website.

More than 16,000 state, county, city, university and college and tribal agencies – covering a combined 95.6 percent of the United States population – submitted data to the UCR program through the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the Summary Reporting System last year.

Some politicians and commentators have argued that the FBI data may be fraudulent, manipulated or incomplete. However, civil rights advocacy groups such as the Brennan Center for Justice have disputed those claims.

Local Trends In Maryland

Last month, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced the city is seeing what he called "historic" reductions in violent crime through the first six months of 2025. Compared to this time last year, the city recorded a 22.7 percent decrease in homicides and a 19.6 percent decline in non-fatal shootings.

Through June, Baltimore has recorded 68 homicides — the fewest in more than 50 years, compared to 88 homicides in the first six months of 2024.

Crime in Baltimore City was also trending down in the first six months of 2025 across most major categories. As of July 1, compared to 2024, auto thefts were down 34 percent, robberies were down 22 percent, arson was down 10 percent and carjackings were down 15 percent.

Since 2021, statewide homicides declined by 32 percent while Baltimore City, which saw 201 total homicides in 2024, has recorded a 41 percent decrease during the same timeframe, according to Erek L. Barron, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

In January, Barron credited the collaboration between federal, state and city law enforcement, as well as community partners, for the positive direction.

The effort to reduce crime in the state is tied to the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods. This program brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence and to make neighborhoods safer.

Patch editor Eric Kiefer contributed reporting.