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Criminal Victimization in the 22 Largest U.S. States, 2017–2019

NCJ Number
305402
Author(s)
Grace Kena; Rachel E. Morgan
Date Published
March 2023
Length
21 pages
Abstract

This report presents selected state-level estimates of violent and property victimization for the 3-year aggregate period of 2017–19 in the 22 most populous U.S. states. This report offers the first picture of victimization rates across states and how their reported and unreported crime levels vary. This is BJS’s first release of subnational nonfatal violent and property victimization data collected directly through the NCVS.

BJS is also releasing the complementary third-party report National Crime Victimization Survey: Validation of State-Level Estimates, produced for BJS by RTI International, which evaluated the 2016 sample redesign to produce subnational estimates of crime and the data quality of the estimates for the 22 states.

Highlights:

During 2017–19:

  • The 22 most populous states accounted for 79% of the U.S. person population and 75% of the violent victimizations captured by the NCVS.
  • Three states had higher rates of violent victimization than the country overall (21.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older), while seven had lower rates.
  • Property crime rates were higher than the national rate (105.9 victimizations per 1,000 households) in 6 of the 22 states and were lower in 12.
  • Four of the 22 states had rates above the U.S. rate of 19.7 household burglaries per 1,000 households, while 8 states had rates below the U.S. rate.