The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program defines robbery as the taking or
attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or
persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.
Overview
- There were an estimated 327,374 robberies nationwide in 2015. The estimated number of robberies increased 1.4 percent from the 2014 estimate, but decreased 7.7 percent from the 2011 estimate. The 2015 estimate was down 27.1 percent from the 2006 estimate. (See Tables 1 and 1A.)
- The estimated robbery rate of 101.9 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015 showed an increase of 0.6 percent when compared with the 2014 rate. (See Tables 1 and 1A.)
- In 2015, the average dollar value of property stolen per reported robbery was $1,190. Robberies accounted for an estimated $390 million in losses. Banks experienced the highest average dollar loss at $3,884 per offense. (Based on Tables 1 and 23.)
- Among the robberies for which the UCR Program received weapon information in 2015, strong-arm tactics were used in 42.2 percent, firearms in 40.8 percent, and knives or cutting instruments in 7.9 percent. Other dangerous weapons were used in 9.1 percent of robberies in 2015. (Based on Table 19.)
Expanded data
Expanded offense data are the details of the various offenses that the UCR Program collects beyond the count of how many crimes law enforcement agencies report. These details may include the type of weapon used in a crime, type or value of items stolen, and so forth. In addition, expanded data include trends (for example, 2-year comparisons) and rates per 100,000 inhabitants.
Expanded information regarding robbery is available in the following tables:
- Location Type, average value of items stolen by location per robbery: Table 23
- Robbery Table 1, “Robbery, Location, Percent Distribution by Region, 2015”
- Robbery Table 2, “Robbery, Location, Percent Distribution by Population Group, 2015”
- Robbery Table 3, “Robbery, Types of Weapons Used, Percent Distribution by Region, 2015”