About PlainCrime

PlainCrime provides free, accessible crime statistics for cities, counties, and states across the United States. Our data comes from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, the nation's most comprehensive collection of crime data.

Data Sources

All crime data on PlainCrime is sourced from the FBI's Crime in the United States (CIUS) reports, specifically:

• Table 8 — Offenses Known to Law Enforcement by State by City
• Table 10 — Offenses Known to Law Enforcement by State by Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Counties
• CDE API — State-level crime trends from the FBI Crime Data Explorer

Crime Categories

We track the following offense categories as defined by the FBI UCR program:

How We Calculate Rates

Crime rates are expressed per 100,000 population. This allows fair comparison between cities of different sizes. The formula is:

Crime Rate = (Number of Offenses / Population) × 100,000

Important Limitations

• Not all law enforcement agencies report complete data every year
• Reporting methods and definitions may vary between jurisdictions
• Crime data reflects reported offenses, not all crimes that occur
• Rankings should be interpreted with caution — many factors affect crime beyond what statistics capture
• County-level data from Table 10 does not include population figures

Disclaimer

PlainCrime is not affiliated with the FBI, the Department of Justice, or any government agency. We provide this data for informational purposes only. Crime statistics should not be the sole factor in any decision-making process.