The U.S. murder rate is at its highest level in nearly two and half decades. A total of 21,570 murders were committed nationwide in 2020, up nearly 30% from the previous year — the largest annual increase on record.
The rash of deadly violence came during a tumultuous year in American history. The COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures and left millions of Americans out of work. The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer rattled confidence in American law enforcement and sparked nationwide protests. Firearms sales soared, resulting in the proliferation of tens of millions of new guns. 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 the rising homicide rate. While it may be years before the precise causal factors are identified, the effects are being felt in communities across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists homicide as a contributing factor in the historic 1.5-year decline in life expectancy in the U.S. last year — trailing only COVID-19 and accidental deaths, like drug overdoses, insignificance.
There were a total of 553 murders in Maryland in 2020 or 9.1 for every 100,000 people — the eighth highest murder rate among states. For comparison, the national homicide rate stands at 6.5 per 100,000.
Along with rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, murder is one component of the broader violent crime category. Though Maryland has a higher than average murder rate, its overall violent crime rate is closely in line with the national average. There were a total of 400 violent crimes reported for every 100,000 people in the state in 2020, compared to 399 per 100,000 nationwide.
All data used in this story, including population figures used to calculate population-adjusted crime rates, is from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report.
Rank Geo Murders per 100,000 people, 2020 Total murders, 2020 Violent crimes per 100,000 people, 2020 1 Louisiana 15.8 734 639 2 Missouri 11.8 723 543 3 Arkansas 10.6 321 672 3 Mississippi 10.6 315 291 5 South Carolina 10.5 549 531 6 Alabama 9.6 471 454 6 Tennessee 9.6 663 673 8 Illinois 9.1 1,151 426 8 Maryland 9.1 553 400 10 Georgia 8.8 943 400 11 North Carolina 8.0 852 419 12 Pennsylvania 7.9 1,009 390 13 New Mexico 7.8 164 778 14 Michigan 7.6 754 478 15 Indiana 7.5 505 358 16 Delaware 7.4 73 432 16 Oklahoma 7.4 296 459 18 Kentucky 7.2 323 259 19 Ohio 7.0 820 309 20 Arizona 6.9 513 485 21 Alaska 6.7 49 838 22 Texas 6.6 1,931 447 22 West Virginia 6.6 117 356 24 Virginia 6.1 524 209 25 Florida 5.9 1,290 384 26 Nevada 5.7 180 460 27 California 5.6 2,203 442 28 Wisconsin 5.3 308 323 29 Colorado 5.1 294 423 30 Montana 5.0 54 470 31 South Dakota 4.5 40 501 32 New York 4.2 808 364 32 North Dakota 4.2 32 329 34 Connecticut 3.9 140 182 34 Washington 3.9 301 294 36 New Jersey 3.7 329 195 37 Nebraska 3.6 69 334 38 Iowa 3.5 111 304 39 Kansas 3.4 100 425 39 Minnesota 3.4 190 278 41 Utah 3.1 102 261 41 Wyoming 3.1 18 234 43 Rhode Island 3.0 32 231 44 Hawaii 2.9 41 254 44 Oregon 2.9 125 292 46 Massachusetts 2.3 160 309 47 Idaho 2.2 41 243 47 Vermont 2.2 14 173 49 Maine 1.6 22 109 50 New Hampshire 0.9 12 146