New York homicide offenses, 1985 to 2025
New York homicide offenses stood at 18 in 2025, down 43.8% on the previous period.
Law enforcement agencies in New York reported 18 York homicide offenses in 2025-12, down 43.8 percent from the year before. The window spans 1985-01 to 2025-12, with the high at 265 (1990-03) and the low at 9 (2011-02).
How it is measured
The offense is defined as the willful killing of one human being by another (murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, excluding justifiable homicide, negligence, suicides, and accidents). Counts come from the FBI's Crime Data Explorer, which aggregates the monthly reports police agencies submit to the national crime statistics program; the chart sums them to years so trends read over seasonality. Reported crime is not total crime: it counts what victims reported and agencies recorded, and agency participation shifts over time, most sharply around the 2021 transition to the NIBRS reporting system, which temporarily lowered coverage.
What the curve shows
Homicide is the most reliably counted crime, since a death investigation happens whether or not anyone files a report, which makes this the benchmark line for violence trends. Within a consistent reporting era the trend is meaningful; across eras, level comparisons need the coverage caveat in mind.
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