Aug 11, 2025 - News
Colorado homicides fall to lowest level since 2019
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Colorado's homicide rate dropped sharply in 2024, mirroring a nationwide decline in violent crime.
By the numbers: State data shows Colorado's homicide rate fell to 5.1 per 100,000 residents in 2024 — down 18% from the year before and the lowest level since 2019.
- Homicides in Colorado have now declined two years in a row after peaking in 2022.
The big picture: Nationally, violent crime hit a 20-year low last year, per new FBI data released this month. And the downward trend appears to be accelerating:
- Early 2025 data from the country's largest cities suggests violent crime could soon drop to record modern lows.
- As we reported, Denver's homicide rate was down to 2.7 per 100,000 residents in the first half of 2025 — the city's lowest level in more than a decade and the steepest drop among dozens of U.S. cities examined.
What they're saying: "As the pandemic receded, criminal justice experts fully expected crime to decline," Insha Rahman, vice president of advocacy and partnerships at the Vera Institute of Justice, told Axios.
- Rahman noted the crime drops occurred, even while police staffing levels declined in the past five years by around 5% nationwide.
- "What's driving these unprecedented gains in community safety" nationwide, Rahman said, "is the government investment in community infrastructure from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act and the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act."