Welcome to the Real-Time Crime Index

The RTCI is a sample of reported crime data from hundreds of law enforcement agencies nationwide which mimics national crime trends with as little lag and the most accuracy possible. Crime statistics are inexact, but sampling agencies in this way is a proven method for accurately measuring trends while waiting for national crime estimates published each year. Standardizing the offenses collected and time periods measured from hundreds of agencies makes it possible to evaluate trends up or down as they develop.

About the Data: Not all crimes are reported to police, and the RTCI can only measure those offenses that are reported to police. Crime data is inherently imprecise with frequent (usually small) variations between different data sources. This methodology is designed to ensure that crime trends are being captured accurately even if the exact figures reported either publicly by an agency or by the FBI may differ depending on the available data source. These figures represent reported crimes published by agencies, which may not represent the entirety of crimes in a city or county, if served by multiple agencies or when accounting for offenses that do not get reported to police. Agencies also can report crimes months after they occur, so figures for each agency are subject to change. The data collection methodology differs between cities, not every agency reports every offense type, and not every agency has complete data through the most recent reporting period. As such, ranking between cities or counties is imprecise and inadvisable, and users should be cautious when comparing crime counts for one location against another location’s counts.

RTCI Composition: The RTCI does not include every agency in the U.S. Not every agency in the RTCI has available data for every offense type. The national and state samples, viewed in the graphs and tables as “Full Sample,” “Population Groups,” and “Regions,” are aggregations that do not include every agency in the RTCI (only the ones with complete murder data through the most recent month). See the sample list or map to see which agencies are included in these calculations.

How To: On the graph, users can visualize data as monthly counts or a rolling sum over 12 months. The 12 Month Rolling Sum represents the total number of crimes reported in the most recent 12 months, so murders rolling over 12 months in February 2024 is the total number of murders in a locale between March 2023 and February 2024. Viewing crime data in this way accounts for seasonal effects on crime. Select the tables tab to see Year-to-Date or monthly totals for every agency in the RTCI. Select the overview tab for all Year-to-Date and yearly totals on all crime types in one place for any agency. Select the map to see which agencies are included in the national and state samples (ie., complete data) and where they are located, including which region they belong to. 

Update Frequency: The RTCI is updated in the middle of a month to reflect crimes that occurred in the month before the most recent month — in other words, a 45-day lag (an update published in mid-July, for example, covers crimes committed through May). Users can view nationwide or state aggregate samples or drill down on individual agencies, but only agencies that have reported data through the most recent update month are included in calculating these aggregate samples (eg., Nationwide, Full Sample).

The RTCI is an evolving project which will grow in terms of cities, topics, and methodologies employed, so check back often to see new features and datasets.

For more information on the data sources and methodology used to power the RTCI, click here.