Arkansas Crime Trends

Arkansas's comparable FBI window (2014–2024, 11 years) splits: one major offense rate rose while the other fell — the lead series is the larger |endpoint %| move.

Split-window verdict

The two tracked crime rates moved in different directions

Arkansas's violent crime rate rose 29.4% from 2014 to 2024; its property crime rate fell 37.6%. A single combined label would hide that split, so the evidence below keeps the two series separate.

What stands out in Arkansas

Latest national comparison

Arkansas finished above the aggregated US violent-crime rate

For 2024, the state rate was 580.1 per 100,000 versus 352.0 across the state records in this dataset, a gap of 64.8% above. This is a state-level benchmark, not a neighborhood-safety conclusion.

Recent direction check

The recent direction reverses the full-window direction

From 2021 to 2024, the violent-crime rate fell 16.0%, compared with +29.4% across the full 2014-2024 window. That difference is why the latest few observations should be read separately from the decade-scale endpoints.

Full-window endpoints

The two tracked crime rates moved in different directions

Violent crime moved from 448.2 to 580.1 per 100,000 (+29.4%). Property crime moved from 3106.6 to 1939.5 (-37.6%). These are endpoint comparisons, not proof that every intervening year followed the same direction.

Peak and trough

The latest violent-crime rate sits inside the historical range

The highest observed violent-crime rate was 690.3 in 2021; the lowest was 448.2 in 2014. The latest value lies 54% of the way from that low to that peak, which shows whether the endpoint is close to an extreme or near the middle of the observed range.

Year-to-year movement

The sharpest one-year move was an increase

The largest annual change ran from 2019 to 2020: +16.5%. Across the full sequence, 7 year-to-year steps rose by more than 1% and 3 fell by more than 1%. A single sharp step can reflect participation or reporting changes as well as a real change in recorded offenses.

Rate denominator

The population denominator grew across the series

The reported population changed from 2,966,369 to 3,088,354 (+4.1%). Rates account for that denominator change; raw offense counts do not. This is one reason a count and a per-100,000 rate can move by different percentages over the same years.

Property Crime Rate (2024) · lead
1939.5/100K
Property Crime Change · lead
-37.6%
2014–2024

Arkansas property inflection desk (2024)

Arkansas's property rate fell 13.0% (-288.6 per 100K) from 2023 to 2024 (2228.1 → 1939.5) — the sharpest comparable year-to-year step in this window.

Arkansas's property gap vs the US aggregate moved from 23.2% above in 2014 to 13.4% above in 2024 (-9.9 pp).

Arkansas Property Crime Rate Over Time (lead series)

3296 1226 20142017202020232024
Arkansas property rate US property average

Arkansas Violent Crime Rate Over Time

723 247 20142017202020232024
Arkansas violent rate US violent average

Year-by-Year Crime Data (property-led)

Year Coverage Population Property Rate YoY Violent Rate
2024 Comparable 3,088,354 59,899 1939.5 ↓ 13.0% 17,916 580.1
2023 Comparable 3,067,732 68,351 2228.1 ↓ 9.8% 18,888 615.7
2022 Comparable 3,045,637 75,200 2469.1 ↓ 1.6% 19,786 649.7
2021 Comparable 3,025,891 75,912 2508.7 ↓ 3.4% 20,887 690.3
2020 Comparable 3,030,522 78,671 2596 ↓ 7.0% 20,163 665.3
2019 Comparable 3,017,804 84,193 2789.9 ↓ 4.3% 17,230 570.9
2018 Comparable 3,013,825 87,882 2916 ↓ 3.3% 16,618 551.4
2017 Comparable 3,004,279 90,612 3016.1 ↓ 4.3% 16,361 544.6
2016 Comparable 2,988,248 94,219 3153 ↑ 2.3% 15,899 532.1
2015 Comparable 2,978,204 91,828 3083.3 ↓ 0.8% 14,877 499.5
2014 Comparable 2,966,369 92,153 3106.6 - 13,295 448.2

More in Arkansas: overview, safest cities, most dangerous, compare. Methodology — FBI UCR / Crime Data Explorer rates per 100,000 for Arkansas (2014–2024); Census population where FBI denominators are missing.