Violent crime fell in 2024, according to the FBI, marking the second consecutive annual decline as overall crime in the country continues a downward trend following COVID-19-era spikes.

The figures, released by the agency on Aug. 5, in its annual national crime report, also show a dip in property crime and hate crimes reported from January to December of last year.

It records a 4.5% decrease in violent crime from 2023 to 2024, while property crime, such as burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson, decreased nearly double that rate, at a little over 8% year-over-year. Hate crimes decreased by 1.5%.

"When considering 5- and 10-year trends, the 2024 estimated violent crime total was 5.5% below the 2020 level and 0.7% below the 2015 level," the FBI said in its report.

The report is based on data voluntarily submitted by local law enforcement agencies to the agency's national reporting systems. About 86% of these local agencies participated, covering 95.6% of the population, the FBI said, including all major cities of more than a million inhabitants. An additional 562 agencies participated in the crime reporting program for the 2024 report, compared to the previous year.

Overall violent crime decreased from 2023 to 2024

Violent crime consists of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, rape and robbery. Aggravated assaults accounted for a little under 3/4 of all violent crimes reported to law enforcement last year − accounting for 71.3%.

Here's the breakdown:

Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter decreased 14.9%.

Rape decreased 5.2%.

Robbery decreased 8.9%.

Aggravated assault decreased 3%.

Rates in murder and nonnegligent manslaughter saw the biggest drop among the four categories, and are the lowest rate in nine years.

However, the FBI's breakdown of the number of violent crimes committed across the country in 2024 remains sobering, with one violent crime committed on average every 25 seconds. Further, the agency estimates that each day, a murder occurs every 31 minutes, a rape occurs every four minutes, a robbery occurs at least every two minutes, and an aggravated assault occurs every 36 seconds.

Property crime rates decreased in 2024

Property crime offenses decreased year-to-year by 8.1% in 2024, while the FBI notes a broader 10-year trend shows a 24.7% decrease when compared with the 2015 estimate.

Here's the breakdown:

Burglary decreased 8.6%.

Larceny-theft decreased 5.5%.

Motor vehicle theft decreased 18.6%.

Arson decreased 7.5%.

What was the arrest rate in 2024?

Violent crime arrests decreased 5.2% in 2024 when compared with 2023 arrests, the agency said, and property crime arrests increased 2.9% in the same period. Arrests of minors decreased 6.5% in 2024 while arrests of adults decreased 1.0%.

10-year high in law enforcement assaults

The federal agency's annual report also recorded 64 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty last year, with firearms involved in 46 of those deaths. The FBI noted that reported assaults on law enforcement officers, including aggravated and simple assault offenses, reached a 10-year high in 2024, with 85,730 officers assaulted. The rate of assaults in 2024 was slightly higher than in 2023, at 13.5 assaults per 100 officers compared to the previous year's rate of 13.4.

Contributing: Reuters

Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crime rates fell in 2024, FBI says, continuing downward trend. See the biggest drops.

Reporting by Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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