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Home • Crime in the U.S. • 2017 • Crime in the U.S. 2017 • Tables • Table 12 • Table 12 Data Declaration

Table 12 Data Declaration

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Crime Trends, by Population Group, 2016–2017

The FBI collects these data through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

Important note about rape data

In 2013, the FBI’s UCR Program initiated the collection of rape data under a revised definition within the Summary Reporting System. The term “forcible” was removed from the offense name, and the definition was changed to “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”

In 2016, the FBI Director approved the recommendation to discontinue the reporting of rape data using the UCR legacy definition beginning in 2017.

General comments

  • This 2-year trend table provides the number of offenses for 2016 and 2017 and the percent change between these 2 years, listed by population group.
  • Metropolitan counties include sheriffs’ offices and county law enforcement agencies associated with a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).
  • Nonmetropolitan counties include sheriffs’ offices and county law enforcement agencies that are not associated with an MSA.
  • Suburban areas include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and county law enforcement agencies that are within an MSA.
  • Suburban areas exclude all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city. The agencies associated with suburban areas also appear in other groups within this table.

Methodology

  • The data used in creating this table were from all law enforcement agencies submitting at least 6 common months of complete offense reports for 2016 and 2017. If the FBI determines certain variables have created unusual fluctuations in the data, those data are excluded from the tabulations.
  • A crime trend represents the percentage change in crime based on data reported in a prior equivalent period. In calculating trends, the UCR Program includes only common reported months for individual agencies.
  • The rape data reported by those agencies using the UCR legacy definition for either 2016, 2017, or both years are not included in the trend tables 12-15. This includes 1,164 agencies with a total population of 18,671,578.
  • The percent changes shown for the offense of rape are based on data from those agencies that submitted rape data according to the UCR revised definition for both 2016 and 2017 as well as converted data from agencies that reported data for rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object via the NIBRS for both years.
  • The following table provides the actual number of reporting agencies and populations covered for rape.

Populations used to calculate rape trends 
by Population Group, 2017 

Population Group 

Agencies using the revised UCR rape definition 

Agency count 

Population 

Total all agencies 

14,262 

291,331,799 

Total Cities 

10,354 

201,716,632 

I (250,000 inhabitants and more) 

79 

60,254,377 

Ia (1,000,000 and over) 

11 

27,835,810 

Ib (500,000 to 999,999) 

23 

17,010,028 

Ic (250,000 to 499,000) 

45 

15,408,539 

II (100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants) 

218 

32,503,171 

III (50,000 to 99,999 inhabitants) 

464 

32,306,470 

IV (25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants) 

823 

28,593,758 

V (10,000 to 24,999 inhabitants) 

1,677 

26,779,391 

VI (Less than 10,000 inhabitants)  

7,093 

21,279,465 

IX (Metropolitan County) 

1,778 

67,438,118 

VIII (Nonmetropolitan County)1 

2,130 

22,177,049 

Suburban Area2 

7,936 

124,392,698 

1Includes state police agencies that report aggregately for the entire state.
2Suburban areas include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and county law enforcement agencies that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Suburban areas exclude all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city. The agencies associated with suburban areas also appear in other groups within this table.

Population groups

The UCR Program uses the following population group designations:

Population Group 

Political Label 

Population Range 

I 

City 

250,000 and more 

II 

City 

100,000 to 249,999 

III 

City 

50,000 to 99,999 

IV 

City 

25,000 to 49,999 

V 

City 

10,000 to 24,999 

VI1,2 

City 

Less than 10,000 

VIII (Nonmetropolitan County)2 

County 

N/A 

IX (Metropolitan County)2 

County 

N/A 

1Includes universities and colleges to which no population is attributed.
2Includes state police to which no population is attributed.

Population estimation

For the 2017 population estimates used in this table, the FBI computed individual rates of growth from one year to the next for every city/town and county using 2010 decennial population counts and 2011 through 2016 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Each agency’s rates of growth were averaged; that average was then applied and added to its 2016 Census population estimate to derive the agency’s 2017 population estimate.