Violent Crime Dropped in Connecticut’s Five Largest Cities in 2024

By Lawrence Cook

January 13 @ 4:15 pm

Number of Violent Crime Incidents in Connecticut, 1986-2023. Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Connecticut continues to be among the safest states in America, according to new data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which found that violent crime and a variety of other crimes dropped in Connecticut’s five largest cities from 2023 to 2024.

While violent crime continues to trouble many Republican-led states with less stringent gun laws, FBI statistics indicate that Connecticut has been among the top-three safest states in the country for several years now, with violent crime rates substantially lower than the rest of America, and even lower than many New England states.

According to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, violent crime in America decreased overall by 3% from 2022 to 2023. Incidents of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and larceny all dropped.

In Connecticut, violent crimes like murder, assault, kidnaping, and statutory rape all declined from 2022 to 2023, while larency, burglary, robbery, forgery and arson also declined. Over the past few years, Connecticut has consistently ranked as one of the top three or four safest states in America when comparing violent crimes per capita to other states.

Now, according to new data from the most recent data available from the NIBRS, we can see that violent crime and many other offenses dropped in Connecticut’s five largest cities between 2023 to 2024.

According to the NIBRS – which collects real-time crime data from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies – Bridgeport, Stamford, New Haven, Hartford and Waterbury all saw significantly less violent crime in 2024 — and some types of other crimes, too — than they did compared to 2023.

In Connecticut’s largest city of Bridgeport, murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, forgery, welfare fraud, identity theft, robbery, shoplifting, and the theft of motor vehicle parts were all lower in 2024 than they were in 2023.

In Connecticut’s second-largest city of Stamford – where overall crime dropped 14% in 2024 compared to 2023 – murder, aggravated assault, simple assault, vandalism, ATM fraud, identity theft, robbery, shoplifting, and thefts from motor vehicles were all down compared to 2023.

In New Haven, homicide, robbery, motor vehicle theft, larceny and weapons violations all declined over 2023. According to a Tuesday report by the New Haven Independent, Mayor Justin Elicker highlighted the progress at a recent press conference.

“I would say big picture, we should feel proud because we have made a lot of progress, and it is not time for us to celebrate because we have a lot more work to do,” Elicker said, according to the Independent.

In Hartford, where overall crime dropped 1 percent, murders were down 37% compared to 2023, rape was down 25%, burglary decreased 26%, and auto theft was down 8%.

And in Waterbury, crime was down 13.5% overall in 2024 compared to 2023, including drops in murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, simple assault, burglary, vandalism, identity theft, thefts from motor vehicles, and motor vehicle thefts.

The new statistics come as the General Assembly has just its 2025 legislative session to consider new laws and create a new, two-year state budget.