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Home • Crime in the U.S. • 2017 • Crime in the U.S. 2017 • Tables • Table 13 • Table 13 Data Declaration

Table 13 Data Declaration

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Crime Trends, by Suburban and Nonsuburban Cities 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 for suburban and nonsuburban cities.
  • Suburban cities include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) but exclude all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city.
  • Nonsuburban cities include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 in population that are not associated with an MSA.

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 rates 
by Suburban and Nonsuburban Cities1 
by Population Group, 2017 

Population Group 

Agencies using the revised UCR rape definition 

Agency count 

Population 

Total Suburban Cities 

6,158 

56,954,580 

IV (25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants) 

660 

22,746,183 

V (10,000 to 24,999 inhabitants) 

1,293 

20,752,651 

VI (Less than 10,000 inhabitants) 

4,205 

13,455,746 

Total Nonsuburban Cities 

3,435 

19,698,034 

IV (25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants) 

163 

5,847,575 

V (10,000 to 24,999 inhabitants) 

384 

6,026,740 

VI (Less than 10,000 inhabitants) 

2,888 

7,823,719 

1Suburban cities include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Suburban cities exclude all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city. Nonsuburban cities include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants that are not associated with a Metropolitan Statistical Area.

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.