Violent crime is on the decline in Washington state and nationwide

Preliminary data suggest that rates for violent and property crimes in Washington state fell in 2025, continuing the decline that began two years ago. That was the big takeaway in a briefing for state lawmakers Thursday.

Jeff Asher with AH Datalytics said the U.S. has seen unprecedented year-over-year drops in its murder rate, to the lowest levels ever recorded.

“We have murder down 19.8% so far this year nationally, which previously the FBI’s 14.9% last year was the largest one-year decrease ever reported,” Asher said. “Maybe in the first year or two of World War II is the only comparable period in terms of seeing such a strong drop in murder,” he said. “We’re sort of in uncharted territory, at least from a national perspective.”

Nationally, Asher said violent crime overall declined about 10% this year, and property crime saw a less significant decline, driven by “a pretty massive drop in motor vehicle thefts.”

He said his numbers indicate that Washington state crime rates are following similar trends.

Asher compiles the “Real Time Crime Index,” which currently includes data through September from 545 law enforcement agencies nationwide including Washington's seven largest cities and counties. He told the House Community Safety Committee that the Washington state agencies that report to his index seem on track to return to pre-pandemic levels of violent and property crime this year.

“Washington state is seeing substantial drops pretty much across all types of crime that largely mimics what we’re seeing nationally,” he said.

Rep. Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland) said those crime statistics “are all going in the right direction.”

Crime trends were not uniform nationally during the pandemic. According to the Council of State Governments Justice Center, violent crime fell in 39 states between 2019 and 2024.

RELATED: Crime Has Declined Overall During The Pandemic, But Shootings And Killings Are Up

But Washington was one of eleven states in which crime increased. The center’s director, Marshall Clement, said homicides nearly doubled in Washington from 2019 to 2022 before they began to decline.

James McMahan, the policy director for the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, presented Washington’s most recent crime data, which is from calendar year 2024. McMahan said total crime decreased statewide 8.4% last year compared to 2023.

“This is good news to celebrate,” he said.

Analysts did flag several concerns, despite the positive trends overall.

“Domestic violence offenses made up half of all crimes against persons in Washington,” McMahan said. “I think that should be startling to us all.”

He also noted an increase in animal cruelty offenses over the past six years, which he said is often a precursor to other violent offenses.

And analysts called juvenile crime a “stubborn outlier” to the downward trends. McMahan said the proportion of arrests overall that involve juveniles rather than adults has been increasing.

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Clement with the Council of State Governments said the number of juvenile homicide victims also nearly tripled over the past six years, from 21 in 2019 to 62 in 2024.

“While we are seeing a decrease in overall homicides in Washington state from 2022 to 2024, the number of homicides [that involve victims aged 19 and younger] has actually increased,” he said. Clement noted that those statistics don’t indicate the age of the offender.

Clement and other analysts said in order to perpetuate current drops in crime, solving more crimes should be a priority for law enforcement and lawmakers.

“Since we started collecting data in 1960, there’s been a steady drop in the share of violent crime that result in an arrest or are otherwise solved,” he said.

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Clement said Washington is among half of the states that saw their clearance rates decline since 2019. Currently, the majority of violent crimes reported to police in Washington go unsolved, including 405 unsolved homicides over the past three years.

Clement said unresolved crimes can erode community trust and embolden people to commit more offenses. He said cities like Boston, Denver, and Omaha that have prioritized solving homicide and nonfatal shootings have made strong gains in those categories.