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Federal Bureau of Investigation Federal Bureau of Investigation

Table 25

Percent of Offenses Cleared by Arrest or Exceptional Means

by Population Group, 2015

Population group Violent
crime 		Murder and
nonnegligent
manslaughter		 Rape
(revised
definition)1 		Rape
(legacy
definition)2 		Robbery Aggravated
assault		 Property
crime 		Burglary Larceny-
theft		 Motor
vehicle
theft		 Arson3 Number
of
agencies		 2015
estimated
population
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES: Offenses known 1,131,223 14,392 103,064 7,518 299,232 707,017 7,332,702 1,450,074 5,225,538 657,090 40,260 15,239 294,548,721
Percent cleared by arrest 46.0 61.5 37.8 36.2 29.3 54.0 19.4 12.9 21.9 13.1 20.4
TOTAL CITIES Offenses known 898,247 11,088 76,863 4,984 260,582 544,730 5,794,921 1,056,498 4,210,946 527,477 30,534 10,912 197,774,675
Percent cleared by arrest 44.3 60.2 36.2 36.6 29.0 52.5 19.5 12.3 22.3 12.0 19.7
GROUP I (all cities 250,000 and over) Offenses known 414,444 5,607 28,613 1,129 143,631 235,464 1,922,569 364,724 1,323,342 234,503 11,825 79 56,980,440
Percent cleared by arrest 39.6 57.0 38.5 32.6 26.3 47.5 14.1 9.7 16.2 8.8 15.4
1,000,000 and over (Group 1 subset) Offenses known 163,628 1,753 11,656 0 59,652 90,567 646,603 118,652 444,677 83,274 3,387 10 24,675,984
Percent cleared by arrest 45.1 66.5 40.8 0.0 30.9 54.6 13.9 9.6 16.2 7.7 14.4
500,000 to 999,999 (Group 1 subset) Offenses known 138,863 2,081 8,931 620 46,921 80,310 699,933 133,453 486,423 80,057 4,120 23 16,609,970
Percent cleared by arrest 34.1 50.2 36.3 31.6 20.7 41.2 12.3 8.6 14.0 8.7 14.7
250,000 to 499,999 (Group 1 subset) Offenses known 111,953 1,773 8,026 509 37,058 64,587 576,033 112,619 392,242 71,172 4,318 46 15,694,486
Percent cleared by arrest 38.4 55.5 37.7 33.8 25.8 45.3 16.4 11.3 19.0 10.2 17.0
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999) Offenses known 144,680 1,896 13,356 638 42,393 86,397 1,007,676 189,128 712,125 106,423 4,688 206 30,700,345
Percent cleared by arrest 42.4 61.5 34.5 27.3 28.4 50.2 17.6 11.1 20.2 12.0 20.5
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999) Offenses known 110,778 1,185 10,380 727 29,879 68,607 874,080 155,071 644,078 74,931 4,240 467 32,486,967
Percent cleared by arrest 49.6 64.9 36.5 42.5 33.7 58.3 21.5 12.9 24.5 12.5 20.0
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999) Offenses known 83,010 950 8,727 835 20,130 52,368 717,148 125,511 545,356 46,281 3,164 805 27,955,655
Percent cleared by arrest 48.6 64.4 33.8 34.9 33.2 56.9 23.8 13.6 27.0 14.8 23.3
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999) Offenses known 74,653 800 7,873 763 14,951 50,266 675,532 118,369 520,633 36,530 2,894 1,698 27,053,854
Percent cleared by arrest 52.8 62.9 36.0 42.2 36.2 60.4 26.5 15.3 29.6 18.5 24.9
GROUP VI (under 10,000) Offenses known 70,682 650 7,914 892 9,598 51,628 597,916 103,695 465,412 28,809 3,723 7,657 22,597,414
Percent cleared by arrest 53.1 66.5 33.3 40.4 37.7 59.1 24.4 17.2 26.0 23.8 24.9
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES Offenses known 186,909 2,454 18,904 1,873 36,015 127,663 1,239,486 296,527 835,410 107,549 7,321 1,965 72,455,105
Percent cleared by arrest 51.5 64.3 42.5 34.4 30.8 58.7 18.8 14.2 20.7 16.1 20.9
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES Offenses known 46,067 850 7,297 661 2,635 34,624 298,295 97,049 179,182 22,064 2,405 2,362 24,318,941
Percent cleared by arrest 56.7 70.8 43.0 38.4 40.9 60.8 18.7 15.9 19.6 24.0 27.1
SUBURBAN AREA4 Offenses known 321,368 3,808 33,502 3,091 66,347 214,620 2,514,382 505,533 1,822,792 186,057 12,968 8,257 128,133,525
Percent cleared by arrest 51.8 63.5 39.3 38.1 33.0 59.5 21.4 14.5 23.9 16.1 22.1
  • 1 The figures shown in this column for the offense of rape were reported using the revised Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) definition of rape. See the data declaration for further explanation.
  • 2 The figures shown in this column for the offense of rape were reported using the legacy UCR definition of rape. See the data declaration for further explanation.
  • 3 Not all agencies submit reports for arson to the FBI. As a result, the number of reports the FBI uses to compute the percent of offenses cleared for arson is less than the number it uses to compute the percent of offenses cleared for all other offenses.
  • 4 Suburban area includes law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and county law enforcement agencies that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Suburban area excludes all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city. The agencies associated with suburban areas also appear in other groups within this table.

Data Declaration

Provides the methodology used in constructing this table and other pertinent information about this table.