The following chart comes directly from The Murder Accountability Project

Cold Case Homicide Statistics

Breakdown of Homicide Clearance Rates

Nearly 340,000 cases of homicide and non-negligent manslaughter went unsolved from 1965 to 2021, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report data studied by The Murder Accountability Project. Below are the total number of homicides reported in each state, the rate at which homicides are cleared and the estimated number of unsolved homicides.

Note-1: The number of unsolved homicides was estimated for Illinois and New York since these states provide only partial data for the number of clearances.

Note-2: The total number of homicides in this report is taken from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report and is greater than the totals found in the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Report. More police departments report UCR data, which is required for departments to qualify for Justice Department grants.

Note-3: Cases that are reported cleared are counted the year they are cleared not necessarily the year the murder happened. Example, and arrest made in 2020 of a perpetrator in a 1975 cold case would be calculated as a clearance in 2020.

State

Homicides

Clearance

Unsolved

Alabama20,59160%
8,259
Alaska2,35377%531
Arizona16,889 64%6,029
Arkansas10,58077%2,432
California131,11362%49,792
Colorado9,92868%3,164
Connecticut6,93273%1,886
Delaware2,160 72%612
D.C. 13,09662%5,010
Florida 57,181 66%19,549
Georgia 34,480 65%12,140
Hawaii 2,11966%729
Idaho 1,82381%352
Illinois50,69335%32,901
Indiana18,43758%7,769
Iowa3,05173% 817
Kansas5,81965%2,027
Kentucky12,91674%3,351
Louisiana30,10665%10,625
Maine1,33780% 272
Maryland25,16468% 8,152
Massachusetts 9,97861% 3,904
Michigan44,14854%20,155
Minnesota6,25967% 2,061
Mississippi10,43670%3,083
Missouri 24,33771% 7,009
Montana1,39268% 445
Nebraska 2,80882%514
Nevada7,61568%2,470
New Hampshire 972 67%319
New Jersey21,69269%6,770
New Mexico 8,896 64%2,503
New York78,45961% 30,908
North Carolina 31,23881% 5,944
North Dakota55483%92
Ohio33,73465% 11,665
Oklahoma 12,50780% 2,553
Oregon 5,98266% 2,032
Pennsylvania37,54275% 9,328
Rhode Island 1,766 63% 647
South Carolina18,80578%4,204
South Dakota83872% 232
Tennessee 23,38969%7,298
Texas 90,47673% 24,353
Utah2,908 73% 799
Vermont54664% 198
Virginia 24,20476% 5,917
Washington11,03471% 3,219
West Virginia 5,01879%1,047
Wisconsin 9,26479% 1,956
Wyoming 1,00685% 150

Homicides and Clearance Rates from 1980-2021

Data provided by The Murder Accountability Project

The rate at which homicides are solved has been declining during the past five decades. Below is a table which shows the number of reported homicides in each year from 1980 – 2021, the clearance rate for each year, and the number of murders left unsolved.

Year

Homicides

Clearance

Unsolved

202114,71551%7,173
202020,22151%9,847
201915,44958%6,544
201815,87759%6,537
201717,00458%7,154
201616,89156%7,509
201515,59459%6,453
201413,92361%5,413
201314,10361%5,489
201214,82256%6,456
201114,55158%6,163
201014,57758%6,158
200915,16659%6,216
200816,27264%5,858
200716,92961%6,602
200617,03061%6,642
200516,74062%6,361
200416,14863%5,975
200316,52862%6,281
200216,22964%5,842
200116,03762%6,094
200015,58663%5,767
199915,52269%4,812
199816,97469%5,262
199718,20866%6,191
199619,64567%6,483
199521,60665%7,562
199423,32664%8,397
199324,52666%8,339
199223,76065%8,316
199124,70365%8,316
199023,43867%7,735
198921,50068%6,880
198820,67570%6,203
198720,09670%6,029
198620,61370%5,313
198518,97672%5,313
198418,69274%4,860
198319,30876%4,634
198221,01074%5,463
198122,52072%6,306
198023,04072%6,451
Total744,87862%286,285

Notes: This total homicide estimate differs from the counts found in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report and Supplementary Homicide Report. Those two reports are based upon incomplete data provided by local police departments. The homicide totals and clearance rates presented here are estimated by the FBI, based upon the incomplete reporting. The FBI provides this definition of when homicides are considered to be cleared: “Law enforcement agencies clear or solve an offense when at least one person is arrested, charged with the commission of the offense, and turned over to the court for prosecution. Law enforcement agencies may also clear a crime by exceptional means such as when an identified offender is killed during apprehension or dies by suicide.”

The above information was compiled and published by The Murder Accountability Project.