Missouri Continues to Have Highest Rate of Black Homicide Victimization in the Nation

Washington, D.C. — Nearly nine out of 10 of Black homicide victims die by gunfire according to the latest edition of Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2023 Homicide Data, an annual study from the Violence Policy Center (VPC). In 2023 (the most recent year for which data are available), there were 12,276 Black homicide victims in the United States. Of these victims, 10,563 (86.0 percent) died by gunfire. Black Americans comprised 13.7 percent of the U.S. population that year yet represented 53.8 percent of all homicide victims.

The victimization data presented in the study reveals that homicides claim an average of 236 Black lives every week, nearly 34 every day. Nationwide, the Black homicide victimization rate was 26.6 per 100,000.

In addition to national data, the annual study also ranks the states according to their Black homicide victimization rates and offers additional information for each of the 10 states with the highest Black homicide victimization rates. In 2023, the 10 states with the highest Black homicide victimization rates were: Missouri, Illinois, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

This is the 17th year in a row that Missouri has ranked either first or second in the nation for Black homicide victimization.

“This study documents the decisive role played by guns in the ongoing devastation of Black families, friends, and communities across our nation. These numbers are a national shame. The purpose of this report is to help support advocates and organizations working to stop this lethal violence while continuing to educate and engage the public and policymakers on the need to address this crisis,” states VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann.

Additional information on Black homicide victimization in the United States from the study, now in its 19th year (click here for prior years’ reports), includes:

• The Black homicide victimization rate (26.6 per 100,000) was nearly four times the overall national homicide victimization rate (7.1 per 100,000) and nearly seven times the white homicide victimization rate (3.9 per 100,000).
  

• Of the 12,276 Black homicide victims, 10,464 (85.2 percent) were male and 1,812 (14.8 percent) were female. Guns were used against 88.1 percent of all male Black homicide victims and 74.0 percent of all Black female homicide victims.
  

• The Black male homicide victimization rate (46.1 per 100,000) was more than four times the overall male victimization rate (11.3 per 100,000) and more than eight times the white male homicide victimization rate (5.7 per 100,000).
  

• The Black female homicide victimization rate (7.8 per 100,000) was nearly three times the overall female victimization rate (2.8 per 100,000) and more than four times the white female homicide victimization rate (1.9 per 100,000).
  

• For homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 78.2 percent of Black victims (3,017 of 3,860) were killed by someone they knew. The number of victims killed by strangers was 843.
  

• For homicides in which the circumstances could be identified, 81.3 percent (3,743 of 4,607) were not related to the commission of any other felony. Of these, 55.4 percent (2,072 homicides) involved arguments between the victim and the offender.

At the same time that guns are devastating the Black community, the firearms industry is working to expand beyond its saturated market of white male gun owners, focusing its marketing efforts on Black, Latino, and Asian Americans. If successful, such efforts can only increase gun death and injury in these communities (see the 2021 Violence Policy Center studies How the Firearms Industry and NRA Market Guns to Communities of Color and How the Firearms Industry Markets Guns to Asian Americans).

The full study is available in PDF format at https://vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide25.pdf.

Past editions of the study are available at https://vpc.org/revealing-the-impacts-of-gun-violence/black-homicide-victimization/.

Information on the data used in the report is available at https://vpc.org/black-homicide-victimization-about-the-data/.

The Violence Policy Center is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. 

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