Numerous major U.S. cities begin 2021 with elevated homicide rates

Homicide in numerous major American cities remains at elevated rates in the opening weeks of 2021, reflecting the widespread violence that accompanied 2020's months of riots, domestic unrest, massive job losses and racial conflict. 

Numerous cities nationwide reported elevated murder rates through the year, with cities like Chicago, New York and Philadelphia posting double-digit increases. 

Chicago's latest crime report shows that its year-to-date homicides are up 43% relative to the same time last year. Most other crime categories, violent or otherwise, were down in the early weeks of 2021, but "shooting incidents" were up 61% relative to the same time period in 2020. 

New York City reports a similar, 42% increase in its year-to-date murder rate. The 28-day homicide rate — part of which stretches back into the last few days of December 2020 — was up a staggering 94% relative to the prior year. As with Chicago, most other crime rates were down, and New York's murder rate — even with its recent spike — remains far below the levels of the 1980s and early 1990s when the city was notorious as a hotbed violent crime.