Preliminary federal crime victimization figures indicate substantial declines in serious violence and property offenses during 2025, including approximately 669,000 fewer serious violent victimizations and 3.5 million fewer household property crimes than the previous year.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Serious violent crime and property crime declined sharply across the United States in 2025, according to preliminary Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates obtained by Breitbart News, showing reductions of approximately 25% and 19%, respectively, compared with 2024.
The findings indicate that Americans experienced approximately 669,000 fewer serious violent victimizations, including rape or sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault. Household property crimes also declined by an estimated 3.5 million incidents over the same period.
The preliminary figures provide additional evidence of declining crime, following separate FBI statistics released in August showing reductions in violent and property offenses reported to law enforcement agencies.
According to the figures obtained by Breitbart, the rate of serious violent victimization, which excludes simple assault, fell from 9.9 per 1,000 residents age 12 and older in 2024 to 7.4 per 1,000 in 2025.
The estimated number of serious violent victimizations decreased from approximately 2.83 million to 2.16 million, representing a reduction of nearly one-quarter.
Robbery accounted for a substantial portion of the decline. Estimated robbery victimizations fell from 626,420 in 2024 to 453,870 in 2025, a decrease of approximately 172,550 incidents.
The robbery victimization rate also declined, from 2.2 to 1.6 incidents per 1,000 residents age 12 and older.
The broader category of violent victimization, which includes simple assault, showed a smaller reduction.
Total violent victimizations decreased from approximately 8.2 million in 2024 to 7.5 million in 2025, while the rate fell from 28.7 to 25.7 per 1,000 people.
However, researchers identified that broader change as statistically nonsignificant, meaning the survey estimates do not provide sufficient evidence to conclude that the overall violent victimization rate changed.
Simple assaults accounted for most violent victimizations, with approximately 5.33 million incidents recorded in the preliminary estimates.
The property crime findings also indicated a substantial improvement. Households experienced an estimated 3.5 million fewer property offenses in 2025, including crimes such as burglary, motor vehicle theft and other household theft.
The figures come from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey, which measures criminal offenses experienced by Americans regardless of whether they were reported to police.
Unlike law enforcement statistics, the survey interviews residents about their experiences with crime, providing information about incidents that may never enter police records.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics explains that its victimization survey covers nonfatal crimes against people age 12 and older, as well as property offenses affecting households. Homicide is not included because the survey interviews living respondents.
That distinction is important when comparing the preliminary findings with the FBI’s separate crime data.
In August, the FBI reported that the national violent crime rate had declined by approximately 9.7% in 2025, with murders falling 18.1%, robberies 18.5%, rapes 7.6% and aggravated assaults 7.2%.
The agency also reported that property offenses declined by approximately 12.4%.
A separate Justice Department report published Oct. 14 found an 11% decline in the rate of violent offenses reported to police and a 13% decline in property offenses.
Those statistics use different definitions and collection methods from the victimization survey, explaining why the percentages are not identical.
The FBI’s figures reflect offenses known to law enforcement, while the victimization survey includes reported and unreported crimes and relies on statistical estimates drawn from household interviews.
The differences also mean that decreases measured by the two systems cannot simply be added together.
The latest findings continue a longer-term decline in crime rates that began decades before the current administration, although year-to-year changes can vary considerably across offense categories and communities.
President Donald Trump’s administration has emphasized stronger federal law enforcement, immigration enforcement and cooperation with local police as priorities in its public safety agenda.
However, the available national statistics do not establish how much of the 2025 decline can be attributed to any specific federal policy.
The newly reported victimization figures remain preliminary, and the underlying 2025 survey report was not yet publicly available through the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ publication listings as of Oct. 26.
Nevertheless, the figures obtained by Breitbart indicate that serious violent victimizations, robberies and household property crimes declined substantially in 2025, consistent with the broader downward trend documented in separate federal law enforcement data.
The forthcoming full survey report will provide additional information about the reliability of the estimates, demographic differences and the extent to which Americans experienced changes in their exposure to crime.
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