The crime rate in Jackson, Mississippi, is among the worst in the country. Even after four straight years of falling homicides, Jackson closed 2025 as the deadliest major U.S. city per capita, with a homicide rate of roughly 53 per 100,000 residents. That is down sharply from the city’s 2021 peak of 99.5 per 100,000, but it still runs several times the national average of about 6 to 7 per 100,000.
Homicides Have Fallen Four Years in a Row
Jackson’s homicide crisis peaked in 2021, the deadliest year on record for the city and the highest rate for any major U.S. city that year. Mississippi as a whole posted the nation’s highest state-level rate of fatal shootings at 33.9 per 100,000.1National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. Gun Violence Assessment Jackson
Totals have dropped every year since:
- 2021: approximately 155–160 homicides, a rate of 99.5 per 100,000
- 2022: approximately 138 homicides
- 2023: approximately 118 homicides
- 2024: 111 homicides, roughly 77 per 100,000
- 2025: 75 homicides, a 32% drop from 2024, roughly 53 per 100,000
The 2025 count was less than half the 2021 total. Even so, Jackson remained the per-capita leader in homicides among major U.S. cities for the fifth straight year.
Guns Account for Most of the Killings
Firearms drive almost all of Jackson’s homicides. A 2024 assessment by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform found 185 fatal and 183 nonfatal shootings in Jackson across 2022 and 2023 combined, based on publicly available data: 96 fatal and 89 nonfatal in 2022, then 89 fatal and 94 nonfatal in 2023.1National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. Gun Violence Assessment Jackson
The nonfatal numbers matter too. A homicide count can fall just because trauma care improves, but in Jackson both fatal and nonfatal shootings dropped from 2022 to 2023, pointing to a real decline in the underlying violence rather than better survival rates.
Victims skew young. The average age of a homicide victim in 2025 was 31, and one in four victims were in their twenties.
Assaults, Robberies, and Property Crime
Homicides draw the headlines but make up a small share of total offenses. In the first five months of 2024 alone, the Jackson Police Department recorded 128 aggravated assaults and 36 armed robberies. Property crime is also elevated: based on available 2024 data, Jackson’s property crime rate ran about 31 incidents per 1,000 residents. Auto theft has been a particular problem, with 146 motor vehicle thefts in 2022, a 38% jump from the year before.2City of Jackson. City of Jackson Crime Statistics for 2022 Detailed category-level breakdowns for more recent years have not been publicly reported through federal channels.
Where Crime Is Concentrated
Crime is not spread evenly across the city. Central Jackson, with its commercial corridors and heavier foot traffic, sees the highest concentration of incidents. Residents in central areas face roughly a 1-in-31 chance of being a crime victim in a given year. In the southeastern part of the city, generally considered the safest, the odds drop to about 1-in-81. Reported crimes in the southeast total around 670 per year, compared to roughly 3,200 in central areas.
Part of that gap is simply where people and cars gather. Retail districts generate more thefts and vehicle break-ins because there is more to steal and more opportunity. Still, two residents living a few miles apart can experience very different levels of day-to-day risk.
Why the Broader Numbers Are Hard to Pin Down
Complete federal crime data for Jackson has been patchy. The FBI switched its national reporting system from the Summary Reporting System to the more detailed National Incident-Based Reporting System in 2021.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime/Law Enforcement Stats (Uniform Crime Reporting Program) Many agencies were slow to make the switch, and the FBI acknowledged it could not release complete national data for parts of 2021 because of widespread underreporting.
Jackson was among the affected agencies. Detailed violent and property crime breakdowns were not available through the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer for 2021 and 2022.4Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI Crime Data Explorer Mississippi’s state-level crime portal, run by the Department of Public Safety, has also shown gaps in category-level reporting for the city. The homicide numbers above are more reliable than the broader violent and property counts, because killings get tracked consistently by local police and local media regardless of federal reporting status. Reported crime also undercounts actual crime, since incidents that never reach police never enter the data.
State Capitol Police Now Patrol a Larger Share of the City
Mississippi’s state government has taken an unusual step in response to the city’s violence. In 2024 the legislature passed House Bill 1487, expanding the Capitol Complex Improvement District by about 2.5 square miles and bringing the total area under Capitol Police jurisdiction to roughly 20 square miles inside Jackson.5Mississippi Legislature. House Bill 1487 The expansion took effect on July 1, 2025, pushing the district’s northern boundary to Westbrook Road and its western boundary to I-55 South.
Inside that expanded district, Mississippi Capitol Police have primary jurisdiction. The territory now includes several schools, a major grocery store, Parham Bridges Park, and residential neighborhoods including Sheffield and Sherwood Forest. Supporters say the expansion fills a gap left by staffing shortages at the Jackson Police Department. Critics call it a state takeover of local policing in a majority-Black city and question how accountability will work. The practical effect is that a significant part of Jackson now has two overlapping police forces, with Capitol Police in the lead role.