Boston's homicide rate remains below 2025's — so far
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Boston has reported fewer homicides than this time last year, but that could change if this summer looks anything like the past weekend.
The big picture: Boston has had one of the lowest violent-crime rates in the nation in the year's first quarter, along with several other major U.S. cities.
- The Hub's homicide total remains lower than in most other big cities, at least for now, according to data collected by the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
Driving the news: Boston recorded four homicides in the first three months of the year — two fewer killings than in the first quarter of 2025.
- The city also reported fewer rapes, robberies and assaults in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
- That marked a step in the right direction after Boston's homicide rate increased 30% in 2024, from 24 in 2024 to 31 last year.
Yes, but: That was before police shot and killed a man who they say attacked an officer and an EMS worker with a sword on April 4, and before fatal shootings on April 18 and this past weekend.
The latest: Police responded to three shootings over the weekend, including one that left a man dead Saturday night in Mattapan.
- Two separate shootings on Sunday in Dorchester left four people injured, NBC Boston reported.
State of play: Boston officials haven't ruled all of these deaths as homicides yet, but they will likely bring the city's tally up to seven.
- That's below last year's tally of 17 homicides in the first half of the year and the same number of homicides the city reported in the first half of 2024.
What we're watching: Violent crime tends to increase in the summer amid hot weather, more social events and alcohol consumption.
- Boston's likely to exceed the half-year 2024 tally, but it remains to be seen how this summer's toll will compare to last year's.