For journalists and researchers

PlainCrime press kit

A source-labelled guide to PlainCrime's 2024 FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data: what the figures cover, what they cannot establish, and how to cite or verify them.

Reporting snapshot

The database reflects the FBI UCR 2024 annual source vintage. Counts are refreshed from the database rather than typed into this page.

City records
8,986

city jurisdictions with a current-year record

County records
2,422

Table 10 county and county-equivalent records

State jurisdictions
51

50 states plus the District of Columbia

Reporting agencies
19,585

agencies represented in the local source catalog

Citable findings and embeds

The U.S. Crime Statistics findings page is the canonical source for six live, data-derived findings: city and agency coverage, the property-to-violent-crime ratio, the highest raw violent-crime count, the lowest violent-crime rate among cities of 250,000 or more residents, Table 10 county coverage (including states with no county rows), and the 51 state-level jurisdictions. It includes copy-ready citations and five embeddable charts.

  • Use a rate and its population denominator when comparing places; do not turn a raw incident total into a safety ranking.
  • Quote the reporting year and describe the source as FBI UCR data, not a real-time crime measure.
  • For county figures, state that coverage is shaped by voluntary Table 10 reporting and may be absent for an entire state.

Method and limitations

PlainCrime ingests FBI UCR Table 8 city records, Table 10 county records, and FBI Crime Data Explorer state data. Per-capita rates use the source population supplied with the relevant UCR record.

UCR participation is voluntary. Missing or implausibly sparse reports are not treated as proof that a place has no crime, and PlainCrime is not affiliated with the FBI or any government agency.

For full source detail, processing notes, and caveats, see the methodology and crime-data limitations guide.

Data and attribution

The downloadable city extract documents its fields, vintage, and reuse limits. Attribute both PlainCrime and the FBI UCR program when quoting a processed figure.

City CSV and JSON → Findings and chart embeds → Reuse terms →

Media and data questions

For a methodology clarification, correction, or deadline request, email hello@plaincrime.com. Include the specific page or figure so the source record can be checked.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Coverage counts are queried from the current PlainCrime database; figures should be read with the reporting, denominator, and vintage caveats stated above. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.