USA FACTS: 8th Grade Reading Scores have Declined in 38 States since 2019. . . Where are the nation’s highest murder rates?

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Where are the nation’s highest murder rates?

There were 22,380 homicides in the US in 2023, or 6.8 homicides per 100,000 people. But rates, of course, vary by location.  Where are rates highest, and where are they declining?   Ranking counties by the largest number of homicides and the homicide rate shows two different pictures.   The homicide rate is generally a fairer way to understand these numbers because it adjusts for population size.  It keeps us from comparing a lower number in a small county to a larger rate in a county twice its size.   Cook County in Illinois had the highest total homicides — 805 — at a rate of 15.8 per 100,000 people.  It’s the largest county in the Chicago metro area.  The second-most were in California’s Los Angeles County with 659 homicides, a rate of 6.8 per 100,000 people.  The homicide rate per 100,000 people was highest in Shelby County, Tennessee, which is part of the Memphis metro area. The county had 372 homicides, or 40.9 per 100,000 people. St. Louis, Missouri, (which operates independently of the county) had 106 homicides, or 37.6 per 100,000. From 2018 to 2023, murder rates rose in 71 of 97 large metro counties. The largest net homicide rate increase was in Shelby County, Tennessee, increasing by 16.6 homicides per 100,000.  Washington, DC, followed with a rise of 15.4.  Third was St. Clair County, Illinois (part of the St. Louis metro area), up by 11.7 homicides. The largest percentage increases were  +196.7% in Multnomah County, Oregon (home to Portland), +192.9% New York County, New York (Manhattan), and  +150.0% in Hennepin County, Minnesota (home to Minneapolis). Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the national homicide rate at 6.0 people per 100,000 in 2024, though this data is subject to change.  Want to see more? The US military in metrics and demographics The US military had about 2.1 million troops as of March 2025, a force that has gradually declined since the late 1980s. Nearly two-thirds of military members are on active duty, stationed in the US and abroad.    Let’s get to know the military from different data angles.   Of the military personnel, nearly 1.3 million are active-duty troops, and about 765,000 are National Guard/Reserves. By 2024, active-duty military personnel were down 48.5% from their record high during the Vietnam War in 1968. They dropped again in 1991 at the end of the Cold War. Troop levels have remained relatively stable since then, even during conflicts in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. From 2010 to 2023, racial diversity rose in the Army (2.9 percentage points) and the Air Force (4.2 percentage points). It fell in the Navy (-0.5 percentage points) and Marine Corps (-1.3 percentage points).   As of 2023, women comprised 17.7% of all active-duty military personnel, totaling 225,119 members. That’s up from 2005, when the share of women actively serving in all military branches was 14.6%. In March, about 177,000 troops, or 13.6% of active-duty troops, were stationed abroad (including US territories).  Most were in Germany (about 35,000 troops) and Japan (53,000). California, Virginia, and Texas each had more than 100,000 troops assigned to bases in their state, accounting for 34.5% of active-duty troops.  Twenty-three states, including Washington, DC, have more than 10,000 troops. Want to see more? Making sense of the tax code  There are thousands of people who don’t have to pay federal income taxes. Curious how that’s true? Sign up for the Tax (De)code, a five-issue crash newsletter course in the American tax system. Data behind the news Do visa holders pay taxes? Can refugees get on Medicaid? USAFacts just published this unique chart explaining benefits people with varying immigration statuses can get — and duties they might pay. Consumer Price Index data from July and early August show that inflation has stayed elevated. We have the latest data on the biggest inflation-drivers of the past year.  The nation’s debt has reached a record $37 trillion, the Treasury Department announced last week.  Learn more about the federal budget in this video with USAFacts founder Steve Ballmer.   On Friday, President Trump met with Russian President Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine. Today, he met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.  Here's how much money the US has given Ukraine since Russia's invasion. It’s everyone’s favorite part of Monday: weekly fact quiz time!  One last fact Eighth-grade reading scores fell in 38 states from 2019 to 2024. According to the Nation’s Report Card, eighth graders must score 281 to be proficient, which means a student can form an opinion about an author’s arguments.  In 2024, the average eighth-grader had a reading score of 258.