Murder - number of felonies by relationship of victim to offender 2021

In 2021 in the United States, seven people were murdered by their employer. However, 1,953 people were killed by an acquaintance. In 2021, far more people were killed by people they knew than by strangers.

A ranking of the total number of murders by U.S. state can be found here.

Number of murders in the United States by relationship of victim to offender in 2021

Characteristic	Number of murder victims
Acquaintance	1,953
Stranger	1,509
Girlfriend	488
Friend	382
Wife	308
Boyfriend	223
Son	167
Father	160
Mother	152
Daughter	109
Brother	107
Neighbor	106
Husband	80
In-law	52
Stepfather	43
Ex-wife	42
Sister	37
Common-law wife	28
Stepson	20
Ex-husband	15
Employer	7
Stepdaughter	7
Stepmother	6
Common-law husband	5
Employee	4
Other family	313
Other - known to victim	1,111
Unknown	8,015

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Release date

October 2022

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2021

Supplementary notes

The relationship categories of husband and wife include both common-law and ex-spouses. The categories of mother, father, sister, brother, son, and daughter include stepparents, stepchildren, and stepsiblings. The category of acquaintance includes homosexual relationships and the composite category of other known to victim.

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