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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, 2017

Population group Violent
crime 		Murder and
nonnegligent
manslaughter		 Rape1 Robbery Aggravated
assault		 Property
crime 		Burglary Larceny-
theft		 Motor
vehicle
theft		 Arson2 Number
of
agencies		 2017
estimated
population
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES: Offenses known 1,177,632 15,657 121,084 293,160 747,731 7,074,399 1,281,083 5,072,970 720,346 40,416 14,975 297,646,423
Percent cleared by arrest 45.6 61.6 34.5 29.7 53.3 17.6 13.5 19.2 13.7 21.7
TOTAL CITIES Offenses known 942,624 12,288 90,329 257,523 582,484 5,646,734 951,113 4,113,790 581,831 31,105 10,968 202,173,273
Percent cleared by arrest 43.6 60.3 33.0 29.1 51.4 17.4 12.8 19.2 12.4 20.7
GROUP I (all cities 250,000 and over) Offenses known 443,507 6,188 34,061 142,364 260,894 1,953,831 339,700 1,354,430 259,701 12,493 81 59,068,040
Percent cleared by arrest 39.0 59.6 33.6 26.5 46.0 11.9 10.0 12.9 9.2 15.1
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset) Offenses known 170,598 1,878 13,047 56,798 98,875 647,361 106,712 454,823 85,826 3,662 10 25,129,639
Percent cleared by arrest 44.0 69.1 34.7 31.0 52.1 11.8 10.1 12.8 8.8 14.1
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset) Offenses known 152,876 2,358 11,076 47,894 91,548 728,714 130,372 504,515 93,827 4,831 24 17,571,403
Percent cleared by arrest 35.2 57.1 35.2 22.9 41.0 10.4 9.1 11.1 8.5 15.5
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset) Offenses known 120,033 1,952 9,938 37,672 70,471 577,756 102,616 395,092 80,048 4,000 47 16,366,998
Percent cleared by arrest 36.7 53.3 30.5 24.3 43.8 13.7 10.8 15.1 10.5 15.6
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999) Offenses known 152,832 2,162 15,091 42,443 93,136 993,919 168,996 707,837 117,086 4,811 213 31,855,061
Percent cleared by arrest 42.3 58.8 31.9 28.5 49.8 15.7 12.0 17.2 12.3 23.2
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999) Offenses known 115,050 1,322 12,256 30,104 71,368 840,693 138,454 621,712 80,527 4,429 469 32,747,541
Percent cleared by arrest 48.2 63.4 34.2 32.9 56.9 18.6 13.1 20.5 13.0 22.1
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999) Offenses known 85,734 1,015 10,548 19,837 54,334 680,453 109,920 519,732 50,801 3,068 828 28,843,794
Percent cleared by arrest 48.1 63.5 32.0 34.1 56.0 22.2 14.5 24.5 15.4 23.9
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999) Offenses known 74,858 845 9,291 14,031 50,691 636,078 104,476 489,861 41,741 2,776 1,715 27,384,738
Percent cleared by arrest 51.9 63.3 33.9 36.4 59.2 24.7 16.4 27.0 18.8 26.4
GROUP VI (under 10,000) Offenses known 70,643 756 9,082 8,744 52,061 541,760 89,567 420,218 31,975 3,528 7,662 22,274,099
Percent cleared by arrest 54.2 58.3 31.3 37.7 61.0 24.5 17.9 25.9 24.2 28.4
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES Offenses known 186,998 2,556 22,162 32,995 129,285 1,149,484 243,886 792,143 113,455 6,989 1,857 71,893,861
Percent cleared by arrest 52.5 64.7 39.6 33.3 59.4 17.9 15.3 18.7 17.4 23.8
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES Offenses known 48,010 813 8,593 2,642 35,962 278,181 86,084 167,037 25,060 2,322 2,150 23,579,289
Percent cleared by arrest 56.6 71.2 36.7 42.8 62.1 19.4 17.0 19.8 25.6 27.5
SUBURBAN AREA3 Offenses known 324,524 4,036 39,641 62,504 218,343 2,353,692 424,177 1,729,649 199,866 12,613 8,189 128,800,806
Percent cleared by arrest 52.1 63.9 37.1 34.5 59.6 20.4 15.5 21.9 17.1 24.6
  • 1 The figures shown in the rape column include only those reported by law enforcement agencies that used the revised Uniform Crime Reporting definition of rape. See the data declaration for further explanation.
  • 2 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.
  • 3 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.