U.S. Gun Homicides Down From Pandemic Peak, But Stay Elevated

Gun-related homicides rose by 25 percent between 2019 and 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The year 2021 saw the highest recorded rate since 1994 at 6.3 gun homicides per 100,000 Americans. The organization’s Vital Signs Report found that 80 percent of all homicides in 2023 involved firearms.

As our chart shows, 5.4 out of 100,000 Americans were killed nationwide in gun-related homicides in 2023, down from 5.9 the year before. The data underscores socio-economic divides, with some of the poorest counties seeing up to 4.5 times more homicides than areas with the least amount of poverty. Black Americans were disproportionately at risk, with Black men and boys aged 10 to 24 being 21 times more likely to be fatally shot than white males the same age.

Meanwhile, gun-related suicides also remained high in 2023, with a recorded 8.2 deaths per 100,000 people. Other than gun homicide rates, this number dipped in the pandemic, but other than that has almost continuously risen since the turn of the millennium. While suicide rates are still highest among white men, the largest increase in firearm-related suicides was among American Indian and Alaska Native people.