Homicides were up by nearly 30% in the United States in 2020, the largest single-year increase on record. The surge in deadly violence capped a decade in which the national murder rate was already trending upward.

The historic spike in murders in 2020 came during a tumultuous year in American history. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and surging unemployment, gun sales spiked, and the murder of George Floyd rattled confidence in law enforcement and sparked nationwide protests.

Over the 10-year period from 2011 to 2020, the number of murders reported in the U.S. climbed by 47%. Now, the national murder rate is the highest it has been since 1997.

All but six states reported an increase in homicides over the past decade. According to FBI data, the number of murders reported in Wisconsin climbed from 138 in 2011 to 308 in 2020. The 123.2% increase ranks as the third largest among the 44 states that reported an uptick in murders.

Currently, the murder rate in Wisconsin is lower than the national average. There were 5.3 murders for every 100,000 people in the state in 2020, compared to the national homicide rate of 6.5 per 100,000.

All data in this story is from the FBI’s 2011 and 2020 Uniform Crime Report.

 

Rank	State	10-yr. change in homicides (%)	Murders in 2020	Murders in 2011	Murders per 100k people, 2020
1	Minnesota	153.3	190	75	3.4
2	Iowa	152.3	111	44	3.5
3	Wisconsin	123.2	308	138	5.3
4	Kentucky	113.9	323	151	7.2
5	Hawaii	105.0	41	20	2.9
6	Utah	104.0	102	50	3.1
7	Arkansas	100.6	321	160	10.6
8	South Dakota	100.0	40	20	4.5
9	Missouri	97.5	723	366	11.8
10	Colorado	89.7	294	155	5.1
11	Montana	86.2	54	29	5.0
12	Washington	84.7	301	163	3.9
13	Tennessee	74.5	663	380	9.6
14	Virginia	72.4	524	304	6.1
15	Georgia	71.8	943	549	8.8
16	South Carolina	71.6	549	320	10.5
17	North Carolina	71.1	852	498	8.0
18	Texas	70.9	1,931	1,130	6.6
19	Indiana	65.0	505	306	7.5
20	Ohio	64.0	820	500	7.0
21	Alaska	63.3	49	30	6.7
22	Rhode Island	60.0	32	20	3.0
23	Pennsylvania	57.9	1,009	639	7.9
24	Alabama	57.5	471	299	9.6
25	Delaware	52.1	73	48	7.4
26	Oregon	48.8	125	84	2.9
27	Illinois	47.4	1,151	781	9.1
28	Louisiana	45.1	734	506	15.8
29	Oklahoma	39.6	296	212	7.4
30	Maryland	38.6	553	399	9.1
31	Mississippi	35.8	315	232	10.6
32	West Virginia	34.5	117	87	6.6
33	North Dakota	33.3	32	24	4.2
34	Florida	31.1	1,290	984	5.9
35	Nevada	29.5	180	139	5.7
36	Arizona	29.2	513	397	6.9
37	Vermont	27.3	14	11	2.2
38	California	22.9	2,203	1,792	5.6
39	Michigan	22.2	754	617	7.6
40	Idaho	17.1	41	35	2.2
41	Connecticut	8.5	140	129	3.9
42	New York	5.1	808	769	4.2
43	New Mexico	3.8	164	158	7.8
44	Nebraska	1.5	69	68	3.6
45	Wyoming	0.0	18	18	3.1
46	Kansas	-9.9	100	111	3.4
47	Massachusetts	-13.0	160	184	2.3
48	New Jersey	-13.4	329	380	3.7
49	Maine	-15.4	22	26	1.6
50	New Hampshire	-25.0	12	16	0.9

 

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