Boston, Massachusetts Crime Rates and Statistics

Boston’s crime rate in 2024 came to roughly 538 violent crimes and 1,985 property crimes per 100,000 residents, based on 3,623 violent offenses and 13,368 property offenses reported to the Boston Police Department against a population of about 673,458.¹ Violent crime slipped 1% from the year before, while property crime rose 4%. Homicides fell to 24, which Police Commissioner Michael Cox called the lowest total since 1957.

Boston’s 2024 Crime Numbers

The BPD logged 16,991 total Part One crimes in 2024, a 3% increase over 2023’s 16,485.² Part One is the FBI’s label for the most serious reported offenses, split into two buckets:

Violent crime (homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault): 3,623 incidents, down 1% from 3,652.
Property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft): 13,368 incidents, up 4% from 12,833.

Expressed per 100,000 residents against the 2024 population estimate, that works out to about 538 violent and 1,985 property offenses, with the overall Part One rate landing near 2,523. One caveat applies to any city’s numbers: these figures only count crimes reported to or discovered by police, and categories like sexual assault and theft are known to be underreported, so the real level of criminal activity sits higher than the official tally.

Violent Crime

Homicide drove the headline. Boston recorded 37 killings in 2023, which was itself a historic low at the time. In 2024 that figure fell by more than a third to 24.²

Most other violent categories moved the same way. Rapes and attempted rapes dropped 22%, from 215 to 167. Robberies declined 7%, from 892 to 827. The outlier was aggravated assault, which rose 4%, from 2,513 to 2,605 incidents. Because aggravated assault accounts for the bulk of violent crime in Boston, its increase cancelled out a good share of the gains elsewhere.²

Against longer baselines, 2024 still reads as a good year. The five-year average for total violent crime is 3,793, and the ten-year average is 4,178. The 2024 total of 3,623 sits below both.

Property Crime

Property crime moved in the other direction. Larceny-theft led the climb, jumping 8% from 10,287 to 11,109 incidents, and larceny is more than 80% of all Boston property crime, so when it moves, the category moves with it.²

Not every property category rose. Motor vehicle theft fell 17%, from 1,378 to 1,141. Burglary dipped 3%, from 1,168 to 1,118.

The larceny increase lines up with a sharp rise in shoplifting. Data from the Council on Criminal Justice showed Boston shoplifting up 27% comparing the first half of 2024 to the same period in 2023, and shoplifting is reported inside the larceny category.

Gun Violence

Firearm numbers improved across the board. Total gunfire incidents fell 16%, from 366 to 309. Confirmed shots-fired incidents dropped 20%, and shooting incidents where someone was struck declined 5%.²

Shooting victims followed. Total victims declined 10%, from 143 to 129, and fatal shooting victims fell from 26 to 19, a 27% drop that mirrors the homicide decline. The five-year average for total gunfire incidents is 489, so the 2024 figure of 309 is 37% below that baseline.

What 2025 Looks Like So Far

Preliminary 2025 numbers tell a mixed story. Homicides rose off the 2024 floor, with 31 recorded through mid-December 2025. That remains the second-lowest total in the past 20 years, but it suggests the 2024 count may have been hard to repeat.

Gun violence stayed low. City officials reported shooting victims and gunfire incidents each down more than 30% against the five-year average. Downtown violent crime fell by an estimated 24%, which officials attributed in part to increased patrols. Full year-end 2025 figures had not been published by the BPD at the time of writing.

MBTA Transit Crime

Crime on the MBTA is tracked separately by the Transit Police and does not roll up into the BPD citywide totals. Major crimes on the system fell 13.5% in 2025, from 823 to 712 incidents. Robberies dropped 33%, from 90 to 60. Larceny on the system fell 19%. Aggravated assaults were the exception, rising from 199 to 204. No homicides were recorded on the MBTA in either year.

Where to Look Up Boston Crime Data Yourself

The Boston Police Department Crime Hub is an interactive dashboard with statistics from 2018 forward, filterable by neighborhood, police district, crime type, and time period.³ The BPD also publishes annual year-end review documents with ten-year side-by-side comparisons.²

To compare Boston against other cities or the national picture, the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer compiles statistics from law enforcement agencies across the country, searchable by agency, state, or national aggregate.⁴

Reporting a Crime and Getting Help

Call 911 for a crime in progress. For non-emergency reports, the Boston Police Department’s district stations are listed in its online directory.⁵ To submit an anonymous tip, text “TIP” to 27463 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-494-TIPS.

Specialized BPD units handle specific crime types. The Domestic Violence Unit is at (617) 343-4350, the Sexual Assault Unit at (617) 343-4400, and the Crimes Against Children Unit at (617) 343-6183. The Family Justice Center, at (617) 779-2100, coordinates services for domestic violence survivors.

Crime victims in Massachusetts can also contact the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance, an independent state agency that connects survivors with support services, compensation programs, and counseling referrals. The AskMOVA tool at mass.gov lets you search for services by crime type and location, and the Boston office number is (617) 586-1340.⁶

1
U.S. Census Bureau. Boston City, Massachusetts – QuickFacts
2
City of Boston. 2024 Data – Citywide Year End 10 Year Review
3
Boston Police Department. Boston PD Crime Hub
4
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime/Law Enforcement Stats (UCR Program)
5
Boston Police Department. Contact Us
6
Mass.gov. Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance