Property Crime in the U.S. Decreases for 16th Consecutive Year

In 2018, the rate of property crime was estimated at 2,199.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, a 6.9 percent decrease when compared with the 2017 estimated rate. The 2018 property crime rate was 14.6 percent less than the 2014 estimate. Image Courtesy of the FBI

Property crime rates decreased by 6.3 percent last year, marking the 16th consecutive year of declining numbers, according to the FBI’s 2018 Uniform Crime Report.

The 2018 edition of the FBI’s annual report, Crime in the United States, is a statistical compilations of offense, arrest and police employee data reported by law enforcement agencies voluntarily participating in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

The UCR Program collects information on crimes reported by law enforcement agencies regarding the violent crimes of murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, as well as the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. The FBI classifies arson as a property crime, but does not estimate arson data because of variations in the level of participation by the reporting agencies. Consequently, arson data is not included in the property crime estimate. The program also collects arrest data for the offenses listed above plus 20 offenses that include all other crimes except traffic violations.

Of the 18,586 federal, state, county, city, university and college and tribal agencies eligible to participate in the UCR Program, 16,659 agencies submitted data in 2018.

According to the report, there were an estimated 7,196,045 property crime offenses in the nation in 2018. The 2-year trend showed that property crime offenses declined 6.3 percent in 2018 when compared with the 2017 estimate. The 10-year trend shows that property crime offenses decreased 22.9 percent in 2018 when compared with the 2009 estimate.

Larceny-theft accounted for 72.5 percent of all property crimes in 2018. Burglary accounted for 17.1 percent, and motor vehicle theft for 10.4 percent.

The study concluded that property crimes in 2018 resulted in losses estimated at $16.4 billion.

Find the full report here.

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