World homicide · North America
United States
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people, UNODC via the World Bank · data vintage April 8, 2026.
Homicide rate (2023)
5.8per 100k
≈ 19,412 deaths (est.)
Year-over-year
-11.5%
2022 → 2023
vs. world average
+0.6per 100k
World rate 5.2 in 2023
Homicide rate since 2018
Per 100,000 people. United States compared with the world average over the same years. Gaps in a line are years the country did not report.
Year-by-year
| Year | Rate /100k | Deaths (est.) | World rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 4.9 | 16,055 | 5.7 |
| 2019 | 4.9 | 16,296 | 5.4 |
| 2020 | 6.3 | 21,071 | 5.3 |
| 2021 | 6.8 | 22,515 | 5.5 |
| 2022 | 6.5 | 21,753 | 5.3 |
| 2023 | 5.8 | 19,412 | 5.2 |
— means United States did not report that year. Death counts are estimates: the UNODC rate times that year's population.
A note on United States's numbers
UNODC's U.S. figure comes from FBI police data. Our state pages use CDC death certificates, which run about one point higher. The two count a bit differently, so they will not match exactly.
See our state-level crime pages for the CDC view of U.S. homicide.
Methodology
Source: UNODC intentional homicide via the World Bank (indicator VC.IHR.PSRC.P5). Intentional homicide is an unlawful death inflicted with the intent to cause death or serious injury. War deaths do not count.
Countries report on their own schedules. Years United States did not report render as "—" and break the trend line rather than bridging the gap. Year-over-year change is shown only for two back-to-back reported years.
See the world page methodology for the full rules: ranking gates, the small-country flag and how the world average is built.