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Federal Bureau of Investigation Federal Bureau of Investigation

Table 17

Percent of Offenses Cleared by Arrest or Exceptional Means

by Population Group, 2016

Population group Violent
crime 		Murder and
nonnegligent
manslaughter		 Rape
revised
definition1 		Rape
legacy
definition2 		Robbery Aggravated
assault		 Property
crime 		Burglary Larceny-
theft		 Motor
vehicle
theft		 Arson3 Number
of
agencies		 2016
estimated
population
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES: Offenses known 1,183,933 15,566 111,241 6,822 306,172 744,132 7,319,177 1,393,570 5,211,566 714,041 42,131 15,336 297,593,825
Percent cleared by arrest 45.6 59.4 36.5 40.9 29.6 53.3 18.3 13.1 20.4 13.3 20.8
TOTAL CITIES Offenses known 944,676 11,978 82,764 4,534 268,367 577,033 5,818,143 1,025,177 4,213,156 579,810 31,622 10,953 201,336,755
Percent cleared by arrest 43.7 57.1 34.7 43.3 29.1 51.6 18.2 12.4 20.5 12.2 20.1
GROUP I (all cities 250,000 and over) Offenses known 446,513 6,229 31,796 1,137 148,440 258,911 1,992,102 358,785 1,371,236 262,081 12,563 83 59,116,292
Percent cleared by arrest 39.1 52.9 36.4 43.7 26.8 46.2 12.7 9.6 14.2 9.2 15.3
1,000,000 and over (Group 1 subset) Offenses known 171,699 1,923 12,383 0 59,695 97,698 655,240 111,045 455,822 88,373 3,639 10 24,933,624
Percent cleared by arrest 44.4 60.2 37.6 0.0 31.1 53.0 12.4 9.6 13.9 8.3 14.1
500,000 to 999,999 (Group 1 subset) Offenses known 150,170 2,242 9,992 600 48,381 88,955 732,585 133,045 506,516 93,024 4,350 24 17,424,128
Percent cleared by arrest 34.9 49.3 38.4 35.3 23.2 40.5 11.3 9.0 12.3 9.0 16.6
250,000 to 499,999 (Group 1 subset) Offenses known 124,644 2,064 9,421 537 40,364 72,258 604,277 114,695 408,898 80,684 4,574 49 16,758,540
Percent cleared by arrest 37.1 50.1 32.6 53.1 24.6 44.2 14.8 10.3 16.9 10.5 14.9
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999) Offenses known 154,137 2,067 14,154 624 44,621 92,671 1,029,742 185,432 726,965 117,345 4,968 214 31,784,818
Percent cleared by arrest 42.0 59.5 33.2 42.1 27.7 49.8 16.6 11.6 18.7 11.8 20.2
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999) Offenses known 112,984 1,188 11,254 601 30,104 69,837 868,828 149,523 639,214 80,091 4,265 468 32,549,603
Percent cleared by arrest 49.2 63.5 35.5 43.1 33.7 57.9 19.9 13.0 22.4 12.5 21.3
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999) Offenses known 84,913 949 9,055 856 20,613 53,440 703,177 120,839 532,352 49,986 3,232 813 28,308,217
Percent cleared by arrest 47.5 61.7 32.1 35.4 33.9 55.3 22.8 13.6 25.7 14.9 24.1
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999) Offenses known 75,496 848 8,180 632 15,109 50,727 654,670 113,344 501,960 39,366 2,839 1,702 27,155,943
Percent cleared by arrest 52.4 65.3 34.4 42.9 36.1 60.1 25.4 15.8 28.0 19.6 29.1
GROUP VI (under 10,000) Offenses known 70,633 697 8,325 684 9,480 51,447 569,624 97,254 441,429 30,941 3,755 7,673 22,421,882
Percent cleared by arrest 54.0 60.4 32.5 54.2 36.2 60.6 24.1 17.7 25.6 24.0 24.8
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES Offenses known 191,881 2,736 20,192 1,716 35,096 132,141 1,214,788 278,245 825,554 110,989 7,842 1,997 72,365,974
Percent cleared by arrest 51.9 66.1 41.3 34.2 32.0 58.7 18.3 14.7 19.7 16.9 21.6
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES Offenses known 47,376 852 8,285 572 2,709 34,958 286,246 90,148 172,856 23,242 2,667 2,386 23,891,096
Percent cleared by arrest 57.3 69.4 42.8 41.3 44.1 61.7 19.1 16.5 19.8 24.8 25.8
SUBURBAN AREA4 Offenses known 329,716 4,147 35,781 2,790 66,051 220,947 2,461,511 475,833 1,790,558 195,120 13,728 8,314 128,677,778
Percent cleared by arrest 51.7 63.9 38.0 39.7 33.3 59.3 20.9 15.0 22.9 16.8 23.7
  • 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.