In a recent statement, President Donald Trump asserted that Washington, D.C. has a homicide rate of 41 per 100,000 people, claiming it to be the highest rate found anywhere in the world.
Trump backed his claim by displaying a chart during his remarks, which he said compared homicide rates across various capital cities.
What he failed to mention was that his source data was from 2023 and since then, the city’s homicide rate has dropped significantly.
Analysis reveals that Washington, D.C.’s homicide rate wasn’t the worst in the world for either 2023 or 2024.
In fact, data shows at least 49 other cities had higher homicide rates in 2023.
Jeff Asher, a crime data analyst, points out that comparing cities internationally with populations in the millions to D.C.’s population of approximately 700,000 is not particularly useful.
Asher argued that comparing D.C.’s homicide rate with other major U.S. cities would yield more comparable results.
D.C.’s high homicide rate is also heavily influenced by its urban environment, noted James Alan Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University.
Fox explained that cities like Philadelphia and New York City include suburban areas within their official city limits, which are generally safer and thus moderate their overall crime rates.
Data is typically calculated by dividing the number of crimes by the total population.
As such, incorporating a larger population, like that of suburban areas, can lead to lower violent crime rates.
As it stands, in 2024, Washington, D.C.’s homicide rate fell to 27.3 per 100,000 people, according to a February report from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
This decrease marks a significant reduction from 2023, when the rate was 39.4 per 100,000 people.
The Department of Justice acknowledged this decline, stating on January 3 that violent crime in 2024 was down by an impressive 35% from the previous year, reaching the lowest levels seen in over three decades.
According to DOJ statistics, Washington, D.C. recorded 274 homicides in 2023, which dropped to 187 in 2024.
Recent data provided by the Metropolitan Police Department indicates a continuation of this downward trend in 2025.
As of August 2025, there were 99 reported homicides, a decrease compared to 112 during the same timeframe in 2024.
With respect to President Trump’s claims regarding Washington, D.C.’s homicide rates, it’s critical to highlight the chart he displayed inaccurately portrayed the Capitol’s statistical standing.
In 2023, Washington, D.C. did not have the highest homicide rate globally; in fact, the Igarapé Institute, a Brazilian nonprofit organization that monitors homicide statistics worldwide, has evidence showing 49 cities with higher homicide rates than D.C. for that year.
Among those cities, three are also capital cities: Cape Town in South Africa, Kingston and St. Andrew in Jamaica, and Caracas in Venezuela.
While Trump compared D.C.’s statistics to homicide rates in Bogotá, Colombia, and Mexico City, it is noteworthy that D.C. had a higher rate than both cities in 2023.
Experts like Fox caution that there are challenges in comparing crime data across international borders, with the accuracy of crime data in some foreign cities being questionable at best.
Moreover, the U.S. grapples with uniquely high homicide rates attributed to factors such as widespread gun ownership.
Despite the high profile of its homicide rates, Washington, D.C. doesn’t even rank the highest in the United States.
According to the same February report from the Rochester Institute of Technology, D.C. ranks fourth behind St. Louis, New Orleans, and Detroit in homicide rates within the country.
Given all of this context, it becomes clear that President Trump’s statement, indicating D.C. has the highest homicide rate in the world, amounts to an exaggerated assessment lacking in accurate foundation.
As such, we rate Trump’s assertion as False.
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