Murder in the U.S.: victims by race/ethnicity and gender 2020

In 2020, 3,573 murder victims in the United States were female. Of these, 1,904 were white, 1,440 were Black, and 470 were Hispanic or Latino.

Additional information on Black/African American murder victims in the United States

According to male deaths by firearm-related injuries by ethnicity, the amount of Black victims has fallen by over half since 1970 in proportion to the population. While this improvement has been welcomed, Black males remained twice as likely to be the victim of a gun related death compared with white males.

This inequality has lead to a rise in political action and demonstration around what is perceived as inaction or ignorance over the issue by government and wider society. The high profile death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri followed by the deaths at the hand of police of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, served as the catalyst for an unprecedented number of protests across the United States in 2020.

The wider issue of violence beyond murder also appears to have systemic correlations. The percentage of violent crime victims with socio-emotional problems by race demonstrates that Black Americans experienced socio-emotional issues at a greater rate. Moreover, the issue of a higher exposure to violence for Black Americans stretches to the schooling system where 8.8 percent of Black children were threatened or injured with a weapon in 2019.

Characteristic	Total	Male	Female	Unknown
Total	17,754	14,146	3,573	35
White	7,029	5,123	1,904	2
Black	9,913	8,469	1,440	4
Other race	497	340	157	0
Unknown race	315	214	72	29
Hispanic or Latino	2,847	2,377	470	0
Not Hispanic or Latino	11,347	8,993	2,350	4
Unknown	1,985	1,581	379	25