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How many murders go unsolved each year in the US?
In this article, you’ll learn about:
Let’s dig in.
On average, 6,276 murders go unsolved every year in the US.
The national average number of murders in the US each year is 15,773.
The average number of murders solved each year is 9,497.
So, on average, 39.82% of murders go unsolved each year in the US.
There are 254,379 unresolved murders from the past 40 years.
Read More: Murder Rate In The US
| Year | Homicides | # Solved | % Solved | # Unsolved | % Unsolved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14,715 | 7,542 | 51.3% | 7,173 | 48.7% |
| 2020 | 20,221 | 10,374 | 51.3% | 9,847 | 48.7% |
| 2019 | 15,449 | 8,905 | 57.6% | 6,544 | 42.4% |
| 2018 | 15,877 | 9,340 | 58.8% | 6,537 | 41.2% |
| 2017 | 17,004 | 9,850 | 57.9% | 7,154 | 42.1% |
| 2016 | 16,891 | 9,382 | 55.5% | 7,509 | 44.5% |
| 2015 | 15,594 | 9,141 | 58.6% | 6,453 | 41.4% |
| 2014 | 13,923 | 8,510 | 61.1% | 5,413 | 38.9% |
| 2013 | 14,103 | 8,614 | 61.1% | 5,489 | 38.9% |
| 2012 | 14,822 | 8,366 | 56.4% | 6,456 | 43.6% |
| 2011 | 14,551 | 8,388 | 57.6% | 6,163 | 42.4% |
| 2010 | 14,577 | 8,419 | 57.8% | 6,158 | 42.2% |
| 2009 | 15,166 | 8,950 | 59.0% | 6,216 | 41.0% |
| 2008 | 16,272 | 10,414 | 64.0% | 5,858 | 36.0% |
| 2007 | 16,929 | 10,327 | 61.0% | 6,602 | 39.0% |
| 2006 | 17,030 | 10,388 | 61.0% | 6,642 | 39.0% |
| 2005 | 16,740 | 10,379 | 62.0% | 6,361 | 38.0% |
| 2004 | 16,148 | 10,173 | 63.0% | 5,975 | 37.0% |
| 2003 | 16,528 | 10,247 | 62.0% | 6,281 | 38.0% |
| 2002 | 16,229 | 10,387 | 64.0% | 5,842 | 36.0% |
| 2001 | 16,037 | 9,943 | 62.0% | 6,094 | 38.0% |
| 2000 | 15,586 | 9,819 | 63.0% | 5,767 | 37.0% |
| 1999 | 15,522 | 10,710 | 69.0% | 4,812 | 31.0% |
| 1998 | 16,974 | 11,712 | 69.0% | 5,262 | 31.0% |
| 1997 | 18,208 | 12,017 | 66.0% | 6,191 | 34.0% |
| 1996 | 19,645 | 13,162 | 67.0% | 6,483 | 33.0% |
| 1995 | 21,606 | 14,044 | 65.0% | 7,562 | 35.0% |
| 1994 | 23,326 | 14,929 | 64.0% | 8,397 | 36.0% |
| 1993 | 24,526 | 16,187 | 66.0% | 8,339 | 34.0% |
| 1992 | 23,760 | 15,444 | 65.0% | 8,316 | 35.0% |
| 1991 | 24,703 | 16,387 | 66.3% | 8,316 | 33.7% |
| 1990 | 23,438 | 15,703 | 67.0% | 7,735 | 33.0% |
| 1989 | 21,500 | 14,620 | 68.0% | 6,880 | 32.0% |
| 1988 | 20,675 | 14,472 | 70.0% | 6,203 | 30.0% |
| 1987 | 20,096 | 14,067 | 70.0% | 6,029 | 30.0% |
| 1986 | 20,613 | 15,300 | 74.2% | 5,313 | 25.8% |
| 1985 | 18,976 | 13,663 | 72.0% | 5,313 | 28.0% |
| 1984 | 18,692 | 13,832 | 74.0% | 4,860 | 26.0% |
| 1983 | 19,308 | 14,674 | 76.0% | 4,634 | 24.0% |
| 1982 | 21,010 | 15,547 | 74.0% | 5,463 | 26.0% |
| 1981 | 22,520 | 16,214 | 72.0% | 6,306 | 28.0% |
| 1980 | 23,040 | 16,589 | 72.0% | 6,451 | 28.0% |
| Average | 18,340 | 11,980 | 64.75% | 6,359 | 35.25% |
Over the past 40 years, there have been 321,094 unsolved murders in the US.
The number of unsolved murders increases every year.
In 1980, there were 28% unsolved murders in the US.
Today, there are about 42.36% unsolved murders each year in the US.
The number of unsolved murders per year has increased by 151% over the past 40 years.
Read More: Gun Violence Statistics
The percentage of murders solved is 66.11%.
This data looks at data for each state over the past 40 years.
This FBI data shows that the total number of murders is 947,521.
That’s how many murder cases there have been in the US over the past 40 years.
Of those 947,521 murder cases, 626,427 are solved.
So, the “murder clearance rate” is 66.11%.
Read More: What Is Attempted Manslaughter?
Let’s look at some other data related to how many murders go unsolved.
The states with the highest murder rates are:
The states with the lowest murder rates are:
The states with the highest murder rates in the US are:
These murder rates are the number of people murdered out of 100,000 people.
Read More: Which States Have The Highest Murder Rate?
48.7% of murders went unsolved in 2020.
There were 20,221 murder cases in 2020.
Of those 20,221 homicide cases, only 10,374 were solved.
This means that 9,847 (48.7%) murders were unsolved in 2020.
Read More: What Is Aggravated Manslaughter?
The FBI conviction rate for violent crimes is 16%.
The local police officer conviction rate is 4%.
The FBI conviction rate for homicides is 4x that of local police departments.
This is because the FBI has better resources for solving murder cases than law enforcement.
California is the state with the most unsolved murders.
California has 48,830 unsolved murders per year, on average.
Their unsolved murder rate averages 37.9%.
But, Illinois has the highest unsolved murder rate at 64%.
Even though they have 31,376 unsolved murders per year.
Chicago averages 595 murders per year.
Of those, 380 murders per year go unsolved in Chicago.
64% of murders go unsolved in Chicago each year.
Chicago solves 36% of its murders each year.
There are 321,094 cold cases in the US.
Over the past 40 years, there have been 321,094 unsolved murders in the US.
On average, 6,276 murders go unsolved every year in the US.
So, the number of cold cases increases each year by 6,300, on average.
There are 5.5 murders for every 100,000 people in the US.
Murder is not very common in the US.
For reference, the:
The crime data for this study on how many murders go unsolved comes from:
Homicide detectives at local law enforcement agencies have to report this crime data.
The criminal justice system keeps data on:
These unsolved homicide statistics show us exactly how many murders go unsolved each year.
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