The Crime Index analyzes crime reports from hundreds of U.S. agencies to reveal up-to-date trends long before annual FBI estimates.

The Crime Index, originally launched in Fall of 2024 as the Real-Time Crime Index (RTCI), enables users to see national crime and policing trends as they develop through a data sample from hundreds agencies nationwide. In addition to current estimates, the Crime Index hosts historical crime, clearance and staffing data going back to 1930 for some agencies. Scroll below for further information on the Crime Index team, methodology, sourcing, and answers to frequently asked questions.

Crime data is typically reported slowly, with national estimates published in the second half of the following year. Information on crimes committed in January 2024, therefore, was not formally published until August 2025, more than 18 months after the offenses occurred. However, an increasingly large number of agencies now release their data on a monthly basis, often with a 45-day lag.

The Crime Index seeks to aid the need for a fast, clear understanding of national, state, and local crime trends as they develop. The Crime Index aggregates and visualizes preliminary monthly crime data from hundreds of local police departments creating a comprehensive view of crime trends across the United States. The data any given agency reports may change slightly over time, but the overarching trends can be clearly seen and understood.

The Current Trends and Historical Library are explored separately because they aren’t exactly apples-to-apples. The Current Trends dataset is updated monthly to show national trends as they develop from a sample of hundreds of agencies. Current Trends has data from 2017 to present though recent data is preliminary, subject to change, and may not precisely match official FBI data.

The Historical Library, by contrast, contains officially reported annual data from 10,000+ agencies — since 1930 for some agencies — plus data on national and statewide trends since 1960. This dataset is derived from official FBI data. The Historical Library is authoritative but may not convey today's trends.