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Crime Trends, by Suburban and Nonsuburban Cities by Population Group, 2018–2019

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 2018 and 2019 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 2018 and 2019. 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 2018, 2019, or both years are not included. This includes 13 agencies covering a total population of 93,870 for Table 13.
• 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 2018 and 2019 as well as converted data from agencies that reported data for rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object via the National Incident-Based Reporting System for both years.
• The following table provides the actual number of reporting agencies and populations covered for rape.

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:

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

Population estimation

For the 2019 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 2018 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 2018 Census population estimate to derive the agency’s 2019 population estimate.

For the 2018 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 2017 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 2017 Census population estimate to derive the agency’s 2018 population estimate.