Trump Crime Crackdown Coincides With Historic Drop in Murders Nationwide

The Trump administration’s aggressive push to restore law and order is now reportedly coinciding with a historic decline in murders across the United States, according to newly analyzed crime data that shows the largest one-year drop in homicides on record.

Murders fell by roughly 20 percent so far this year compared with the same period in 2024, according to an analysis by crime data expert Jeff Asher. The findings are based on the Real-Time Crime Index, which compiles data from 570 law enforcement agencies nationwide and tracks crime trends as they unfold. The index counts murders while excluding manslaughter, self-defense cases, negligence, and accidental killings.

While the data currently runs through October and official FBI violent crime statistics for 2025 will not be released until 2026, the Real-Time Crime Index has historically aligned closely with federal crime data, according to Axios. That makes the current trend difficult to dismiss.

President Donald Trump has made fighting violent crime a central focus of his second term, backing law enforcement with federal resources and taking decisive action in cities plagued by disorder. In August, Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington, D.C., and ordered the National Guard deployed to assist local authorities. The results were immediate.

Washington, D.C., recorded nearly a 28 percent drop in murders this year, according to the index. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said in September that Trump’s decision produced “immediate results in the nation’s capital,” citing Metropolitan Police Department data showing homicides plunged nearly 60 percent in August 2025 compared with the same month a year earlier.

Trump reinforced that approach nationwide in July by signing an executive order targeting crime and public disorder. The order authorized federal support and resources to help local law enforcement crack down on violent crime and reestablish public safety in communities that had seen years of leniency toward offenders.

The administration applied similar tactics in Memphis, Tennessee, where the National Guard was also deployed. The city saw nearly a 20 percent decrease in murders from 2024 to 2025, according to the Real-Time Crime Index.

Major cities across the country have reported significant reductions in homicide. New York City recorded a 17.6 percent decline in murders, New Orleans saw a 7.5 percent drop, and Los Angeles reported homicides down by nearly 19 percent compared with last year.

The broader trend appears consistent. Since 2021, crime rates nationwide have been falling, according to Real-Time Crime Index data, a pattern also reflected in FBI statistics cited by Axios. Asher noted “sizable declines” across every major crime category and across all population groups tracked by the index.

That said, the data also shows that crime is not uniformly down everywhere. A small number of jurisdictions experienced sharp spikes in homicide. Gilbert, Arizona, and Johnston County, North Carolina each saw murder totals jump by 600 percent this year, illustrating how localized failures can still drive violence even as the national picture improves.

Asher also examined the 30 U.S. cities with the highest murder totals in 2024, gathering updated data for 29 of them through November and for Phoenix through September. Murders in that group were down nearly 20 percent, strongly suggesting the national decline is real and likely to hold through the end of the year.

Other violent and property crimes are also trending downward. Motor vehicle thefts dropped by 23.2 percent, aggravated assaults fell by 7.5 percent, and robberies declined by 18.3 percent nationwide.

Taken together, the numbers point to a clear pattern: as the Trump administration has prioritized enforcement, backed police, and rejected soft-on-crime policies, Americans are seeing measurable improvements in public safety.