Official Crime Data from the FBI
Official crime data come from the FBI. Use their tool to find tallies and rates for the U.S., states, counties, SMSAs, and cities.. They also have data on specific topics such as campus crime and hate crime.
The FBI has produced the “Uniform Crime Reports” for many decades to inform the public about how much crime is reported to police. This is/was a summary reporting system. The annual report, Crime in the United States, included consistent tables for all part I index offenses (“The crime rate” “The violent crime rate” “The property crime rate” “The homicide rate” at the national, state, county, SMSA, and city level (for cities of appreciable size). As of 2021, they have shifted to the NIBRS system (National Incident-Based Reporting System) which will allow their analysts, not you, to create some fine-tuned reports). We have some concerns about the 2020 data (due to COVID) and the 2021 data (because there were quite a few police departments—lots and lots—who were not able to provide reliable NIBRS reports. However, the FBI remains the source of crime data that you should use to look up, say, the violent crime rate in Baltimore. If you’re really into, Baltimore, though, you might get data straight from the police department if they will provide it.