Public safety statistics describe several different systems: reported crime, victimization surveys, death certificates, fire estimates, emergency-response records, and law-enforcement technology surveys. The figures below cover the United States, with the population, period, measurement type, and limitations stated so unlike measures are not treated as interchangeable.
Key Public Safety Statistics
The following figures summarize the most broadly useful measures across public safety data:
- In 2023, more than 14 million criminal offenses were reported to the FBI UCR Program by participating United States agencies.
- In 2023, FBI UCR submissions covered 94.3% of the United States population.
- From 2022 to 2023, estimated national violent crime decreased 3.0% in the United States.
- In 2023, the FBI estimated murder and non-negligent manslaughter decreased 11.6% nationally from 2022.
- United States households experienced 13.637 million property victimizations in 2023, including reported and unreported incidents.
- In 2023, the household property-victimization rate was 102.2 per 1,000 United States households.
- In 2023, burglary or trespassing accounted for 1.747 million household victimizations in the United States.
- From 2019 to 2023, the motor-vehicle theft rate rose from 3.9 to 6.1 per 1,000 United States households.
- In 2023, the age-adjusted total injury-death rate was 85.3 per 100,000 people in the United States.
- In 2023, the age-adjusted unintentional injury-death rate was 62.3 per 100,000 people in the United States.
- In 2023, the homicide death rate was 7.1 per 100,000 people in the United States.
- In 2023, residential cause-under-investigation fires were estimated at 4,400 in United States residential buildings.
- Those 2023 residential fires were estimated to cause 560 deaths and 525 injuries in United States residential buildings.
- United States residential cause-under-investigation fire loss was estimated at $622.3 million in 2023 dollars.
- Fire departments reported 31,867,167 total NFIRS incidents in 2023.
- Rescue and EMS calls represented 66.2% of reported NFIRS incidents in 2023.
- In 2016, 47% of 15,328 general-purpose state and local law-enforcement agencies had acquired body-worn cameras.
- Among agencies that had acquired body-worn cameras, 60% of local police departments had fully deployed them in 2016.
Contents
- Reported crime scale and 2023 trends
- Household property victimization data
- Injury deaths and violent mortality
- Residential fire deaths, injuries, and losses
- Emergency-response workload and service demand
- Camera adoption and policing evidence
Public Safety Crime Statistics: Reported Scale and 2023 Trends
The FBI’s 2023 Crime in the Nation release reports more than 14 million criminal offenses from participating United States agencies. Its coverage and trend figures describe reported offenses and estimates based on UCR data, not every crime that occurred.
| FBI measure | Period | United States result |
|---|---|---|
| UCR reported offenses | 2023 | More than 14 million |
| UCR population coverage | 2023 | 94.3% |
| Hate-crime collection agencies | 2023 | 16,009 |
| Hate-crime population coverage | 2023 | 95.2% |
Source: FBI Releases 2023 Crime in the Nation Statistics.
The FBI estimated that national violent crime decreased 3.0% from 2022 to 2023. Within the same comparison, murder and non-negligent manslaughter decreased 11.6%, the revised rape category decreased 9.4%, aggravated assault decreased 2.8%, and robbery decreased 0.3%.
Reported hate-crime incidents fell from 10,687 in 2022 to 10,627 in 2023 in the comparable-reporting dataset. That trend dataset required each agency to provide at least six common months or two common quarters, so the figures are not simply an unrestricted count of every submission.
Public Safety Data on Household Property Victimization
The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey measures household victimization whether or not it was reported to police. This makes it different from UCR reported-offense data, and the estimates carry sampling error.
| NCVS measure | 2019 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Property victimizations | 12.818 million | 13.637 million |
| Property-victimization rate | 101.4 per 1,000 households | 102.2 per 1,000 households |
| Burglary or trespassing rate | 17.2 per 1,000 households | 13.1 per 1,000 households |
| Motor-vehicle theft rate | 3.9 per 1,000 households | 6.1 per 1,000 households |
Source: Criminal Victimization, 2023.
In 2023, burglary or trespassing totaled 1.747 million household victimizations, including threatened, attempted, and completed occurrences. Other theft totaled 11.082 million household victimizations, while motor-vehicle theft totaled 808,830.
The five-year comparison shows mixed movement across property categories: the burglary-or-trespassing rate fell from 17.2 to 13.1 per 1,000 households, while the motor-vehicle theft rate rose from 3.9 to 6.1. These are NCVS measures and should not be substituted for UCR offense rates.
Public Safety Statistics for Injury Deaths and Violent Mortality
CDC National Vital Statistics System figures use death certificates, and the rates below are age-adjusted where stated. Injury, homicide, suicide, and legal-intervention categories are mortality measures rather than crime-reporting measures.
| Measure | Period | United States result |
|---|---|---|
| Total injury-death rate | 2013 | 58.8 per 100,000 |
| Total injury-death rate | 2019 | 71.2 per 100,000 |
| Total injury-death rate | 2021 | 89.0 per 100,000 |
| Total injury-death rate | 2023 | 85.3 per 100,000 |
| Unintentional injury-death rate | 2023 | 62.3 per 100,000 |
| Homicide death rate | 2023 | 7.1 per 100,000 |
Source: Trends in Death Rates for Leading Methods of Injury: United States, 2003–2023.
The total injury-death rate increased from 58.8 per 100,000 in 2013 to 71.2 in 2019, reached 89.0 in 2021, and was 85.3 in 2023. The 2023 age-adjusted unintentional injury-death rate was 62.3 per 100,000, while the homicide death rate was 7.1.
For historical context, the United States recorded 164,002 total injury deaths in 2003, including 109,277 unintentional injury deaths, 31,484 suicide deaths, and 17,732 homicide deaths. The 2003 counts are observed death-certificate totals and are not directly comparable to a single 2023 rate without the corresponding population denominator.
The suicide death rate was 14.1 per 100,000 in 2021. That figure is an age-adjusted mortality rate for that period, not a measure of all suicidal behavior or emergency-service demand.
Residential Fire Statistics: Deaths, Injuries, and Losses
The U.S. Fire Administration’s residential cause-under-investigation series provides national estimates based on NFIRS and related methods. The estimates cover United States residential buildings and exclude nonbuilding residential property uses.
| Residential cause-under-investigation measure | Period | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Fires | 2023 | 4,400 |
| Deaths | 2023 | 560 |
| Injuries | 2023 | 525 |
| Dollar loss | 2023 | $622.3 million in 2023 dollars |
| Fires | 2021 | 5,200 |
| Deaths | 2022 | 555 |
| Dollar loss | 2022 | $832.8 million in 2023 dollars |
Source: Residential Building Cause-Under-Investigation Fire Trends (2014-2023).
From 2014 to 2023, estimated residential cause-under-investigation fire deaths increased 78%, injuries increased 35%, and dollar loss increased 42%. The loss trend uses constant 2023 dollars, and multifatality incidents may affect estimates.
The 2023 estimate of 4,400 fires was lower than the 5,200 estimated in 2021, while the estimated 2023 death count was 560 and the 2022 death count was 555. These year-specific estimates should be read with the USFA’s methodological and definition limits rather than treated as a complete census of every residential fire.
Emergency-Response Workload and Public Safety Service Demand
NFIRS reports show the workload recorded by reporting fire departments, not necessarily every department or every United States emergency response. The 2023 figures were reported as of July 31, 2024.
| NFIRS measure | 2023 reported result |
|---|---|
| Total incidents | 31,867,167 |
| Rescue and EMS calls | 21,101,413 |
| Rescue and EMS share | 66.2% |
| Other incidents, derived | 10,765,754 |
Source: 2024 U.S. Fire Administrator’s Summit on Fire Prevention and Control Workgroup Report.
Rescue and EMS represented 66.2% of reported NFIRS incidents in 2023. The figure of 10,765,754 incidents other than rescue and EMS is derived by subtracting 21,101,413 from the reported total of 31,867,167; it is not a separately classified category.
The rescue-and-EMS share exceeded a 50% benchmark by 16.2 percentage points, a descriptive calculation from the same report. Neither this comparison nor the derived remainder should be interpreted as a causal explanation of department workload.
Public Safety Camera Adoption and Evidence on Policing Outcomes
Body-worn-camera adoption data describe agency acquisition and deployment, while research studies address outcomes in particular settings. Neither category alone establishes that cameras caused broader public-safety trends.
In 2016, 47% of 15,328 general-purpose state and local law-enforcement agencies had acquired body-worn cameras. Among agencies that had acquired them, 60% of local police departments had fully deployed the cameras, compared with 49% of sheriffs’ offices.
Source: Body-Worn Cameras in Law Enforcement Agencies, 2016.
Among agencies that had not acquired body-worn cameras, 77% cited video storage or disposal costs as a reason for not acquiring them. Multiple reasons could be reported, so this is a reported reason among non-acquiring agencies rather than a measured causal barrier.
The National Institute of Justice summary describes a randomized controlled trial involving 400 Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers. A George Mason University review cited by NIJ reported 14 completed body-worn-camera studies and at least 30 additional studies in progress in the international research literature.
Source: Body-Worn Cameras: What the Evidence Tells Us.
The cited NIJ passage does not provide effect sizes for the Las Vegas trial, and the study was conducted in a single department. The study count is the number reported in the 2015 review summary, not a new meta-analysis, so these figures describe the evidence base without proving a universal policing effect.