Four Years Ago

Are you better off today than you were four years ago?

Good question.  I suppose from a crime perspective I am. 

To be fair, I live in rural America, where there is some crime but not enough to stop me and my neighbors from leaving our keys in our cars.  Having said that, national figures concerning crime are universally available and quite measurable.

Four years ago in 2020 we were witness to the largest increase in the murder rate in the history of this country.  Things were not going well.  America was not great again.  Since then the murder rate has fallen each and every year.  The decline from 2022 to 2023 represents one of the largest declines in the murder rate in the history of our country.

With the exception of motor vehicle theft and shoplifting (which remain shockingly high) most of the remaining crimes covered in this analysis are either below or have returned to approximately 2019 levels.  Most notable are declines in drug offenses and residential burglary.

So, yeah.  As a nation we're safer and better off than we were four years ago.