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For most of the past three decades, Americans have said crime is rising in the United States, even though official statistics show a dramatic decrease in crime during that span.
In 23 of 27 Gallup surveys conducted since 1993, at least 60% of Americans have said there is more crime in the U.S. than there was the year before. But this perception is at odds with the data: Since 1993, the nation’s violent crime rate has plunged by nearly half, while the property crime rate has fallen even more steeply, according to the FBI. Put another way, Americans were about twice as likely to be the victim of a violent crime in 1993 as in 2022.
This Pew Research Center analysis examines the connection between local news coverage and Americans’ perceptions of crime. It is based on a survey of 5,146 U.S. adults conducted from Jan. 22 to 28, 2024. Everyone who completed the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.
Refer to the topline for the questions used for this survey, along with responses, and to the methodology for more details.
This Pew Research Center analysis is part of the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Find related reports online at https://www.pewresearch.org/pew-knight/.
There are many possible reasons why Americans might believe crime is on the rise in the U.S., even when government statistics show the opposite. But a new Pew Research Center survey examines one potential factor shaping public perceptions: local news coverage about crime. The survey is from the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Here are some of the key findings from the survey:
Crime gets a lot of attention in local news. An old journalism cliché – “If it bleeds, it leads” – refers to the prominent placement of (often sensationalized) news stories about crime. While the Center’s survey doesn’t confirm the cliché, it shows that crime is among the most widely consumed local news topics.
In fact, Americans are more likely to get news and information about crime than about any other local topic except the weather, according to the survey. Roughly three-quarters of adults (77%) say they often or sometimes get local news and information about crime. That’s more than say the same about traffic (68%), government and politics (68%), arts and culture (59%), the economy (59%), schools (56%) and sports (54%).
Americans who prefer to get local news from TV are especially likely to see stories about crime regularly. Nearly half of these Americans (46%) say they often get local crime news from any source. No more than a third of Americans who prefer other platforms for local news – such as print media or social media sites – say the same.
Violent crime is much less common than property crime in the U.S., but Americans see local news about both types of crime with nearly the same frequency. Around a third of Americans (32%) report seeing news about violent crime on a daily or weekly basis. A comparable share (37%) say they see news about property crime with this same frequency.
In 2022, the violent crime rate was about one-fifth of the property crime rate, according to the FBI. Violent crime includes offenses such as assault, robbery, rape and murder, while property crime includes theft, auto theft and burglary.
There’s a clear relationship between how much local crime news Americans consume and how concerned they are about their safety. Among Americans who get local crime news often, 33% are extremely or very concerned about local crime affecting them or their family. That figure falls to 19% among those who get local news crime sometimes and 10% among those who get it rarely or never.
Of course, these findings can’t tell us which direction this relationship travels: Consuming more crime news may make Americans more worried about crime, but Americans who are more worried about crime also may be more likely to consume crime news.
Americans aren’t especially satisfied with the quality of the local crime coverage they see. Only a third of U.S. adults who consume local crime news say they’re extremely or very satisfied with its quality – similar to the shares who are highly satisfied with the news about several other local topics. The largest share (48%) are somewhat satisfied, while 18% are not too or not at all satisfied.
Notably, Americans don’t find it all that easy to get information that connects the dots about crime in their area. For example, roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults (77%) are at least somewhat interested in learning about broader patterns in local crime, but only 23% of these Americans say it’s at least somewhat easy to stay informed on this topic. The numbers are similar when it comes to what local officials are doing to address crime and the underlying causes of local crime.
Local media outlets aren’t the only place where Americans get news about local crime. In fact, Americans are just as likely to get information about local crime from their friends, family and neighbors (71% do so often or sometimes) as they are to get this kind of information from local news outlets (70% do so often or sometimes). When it comes to other sources, around half (53%) often or sometimes get crime news from social media, while smaller shares get this type of information from local law enforcement (41%), locally focused apps like Nextdoor or Ring (36%), or local politicians (23%).
In other words, public perceptions about crime may be shaped by a broad range of information sources – not just local news outlets.
Note: Refer to the topline for the questions used for this survey, along with responses, and to the methodology for more details.
