Homicide is Soaring in the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Metro Area

Homicides are rising at a record pace in the United States. According to a recent FBI report, there were a total of 21,570 murders committed in 2020, the most of any year in the last two and a half decades and up nearly 30% from 2019 — the largest annual increase on record.

The spike in homicides came during a tumultuous year. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and left millions of Americans out of work. Footage of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer rattled confidence in American law enforcement and sparked nationwide protests. Firearms sales soared, and tens of millions of new guns proliferated across communities nationwide. Here is a look at the states where gun sales are surging.

Some experts speculate that each of these factors likely played a role in rising homicide rates nationwide. While it may be years before the precise causal factors are identified, many U.S. cities are bearing the brunt of the rash of deadly violence. In metropolitan areas across the country, the increase in homicides last year eclipsed the national surge — in some cases, many times over.

A total of 20 murders were reported in the Kingsport-Bristol metro area in 2020, six more than were reported the year prior. Though the metro area’s 42.9% increase in homicides is higher than the national increase, the metro area’s murder rate of 6.5 homicides for every 100,000 people is in line with the national rate.

Other forms of violence, in addition to homicide, also surged in the Kingsport-Bristol metro area last year. Overall, the local violent crime rate climbed by 20.9% in 2020, four times the 5.2% year-over-year increase in violence nationwide.

All data in this story is at the metro area level from the FBI. Only metro areas with populations of at least 250,000 residents and at least one homicide in 2019 were considered.