Table 25

Percent of Offenses Cleared by Arrest or Exceptional Means
by Population Group, 2009

Population group		Violent crime	Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter	Forcible rape	Robbery	Aggravated assault	Property crime	Burglary	Larceny- theft	Motor vehicle theft	Arson¹	Number of agencies	2009 estimated population
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Offenses known	1,142,108	13,242	76,276	352,125	700,465	8,229,516	1,957,825	5,557,560	714,131	53,852	14,274	266,098,836
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Percent cleared by arrest	47.1	66.6	41.2	28.2	56.8	18.6	12.5	21.5	12.4	18.5
TOTAL CITIES	Offenses known	893,944	10,026	55,544	302,854	525,520	6,384,437	1,422,288	4,398,412	563,737	39,818	10,328	176,953,431
TOTAL CITIES	Percent cleared by arrest	45.1	65.3	39.8	27.6	55.4	18.7	11.9	21.9	11.2	17.7
GROUP I (250,000 and over)	Offenses known	375,293	4,912	17,891	150,550	201,940	1,963,986	475,397	1,237,912	250,677	14,840	72	44,841,811
GROUP I (250,000 and over)	Percent cleared by arrest	40.0	62.8	43.5	24.4	50.8	14.3	9.5	17.3	8.6	13.9
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset)	Offenses known	114,591	1,440	5,273	50,962	56,916	579,607	132,761	364,507	82,339	4,587	8	14,623,806
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset)	Percent cleared by arrest	38.6	70.8	45.6	25.1	49.1	13.3	8.2	16.4	7.7	11.4
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset)	Offenses known	148,297	1,946	6,455	56,588	83,308	790,337	194,427	500,457	95,453	5,172	24	16,276,817
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset)	Percent cleared by arrest	40.5	59.8	43.1	22.5	52.1	13.6	9.2	16.2	8.7	15.2
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset)	Offenses known	112,405	1,526	6,163	43,000	61,716	594,042	148,209	372,948	72,885	5,081	40	13,941,188
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset)	Percent cleared by arrest	40.8	59.0	42.1	26.0	50.6	16.3	11.1	19.6	9.6	14.8
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999)	Offenses known	161,270	1,853	9,874	55,921	93,622	1,165,153	269,953	784,051	111,149	6,574	194	28,779,842
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	44.5	62.2	38.9	28.2	54.4	17.9	11.3	21.2	10.2	17.2
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999)	Offenses known	126,490	1,197	8,585	40,110	76,598	992,763	215,528	695,647	81,588	6,223	436	29,776,055
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	47.1	71.9	36.7	30.0	56.9	20.4	12.5	23.9	11.3	17.6
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999)	Offenses known	86,602	825	6,785	25,676	53,316	800,848	163,900	587,381	49,567	4,515	746	25,666,623
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	48.6	66.8	35.2	31.6	58.2	21.8	12.4	25.2	13.3	19.9
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999)	Offenses known	79,145	684	6,722	19,109	52,630	773,613	161,949	570,470	41,194	3,760	1,628	25,757,852
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	54.2	73.1	39.4	36.1	62.5	23.4	14.8	26.2	18.2	25.1
GROUP VI (under 10,000)	Offenses known	65,144	555	5,687	11,488	47,414	688,074	135,561	522,951	29,562	3,906	7,252	22,131,248
GROUP VI (under 10,000)	Percent cleared by arrest	56.3	72.3	40.6	36.0	62.9	21.4	16.0	22.7	23.3	23.6
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Offenses known	196,862	2,337	14,645	44,988	134,892	1,449,401	395,203	930,444	123,754	10,539	1,667	64,002,204
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Percent cleared by arrest	52.6	67.9	44.8	30.8	60.5	18.2	13.7	20.5	15.2	19.4
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Offenses known	51,302	879	6,087	4,283	40,053	395,678	140,334	228,704	26,640	3,495	2,279	25,143,201
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Percent cleared by arrest	60.3	77.7	45.5	41.9	64.1	18.3	15.8	19.2	23.6	24.6
SUBURBAN AREAS²	Offenses known	336,082	3,477	25,427	82,599	224,579	2,887,923	675,695	2,002,073	210,155	18,054	7,540	115,777,741
SUBURBAN AREAS²	Percent cleared by arrest	52.8	67.9	42.5	32.1	61.3	19.9	13.9	22.4	15.3	20.8

¹ Not all agencies submit reports for arson to the FBI. As a result, the number of reports the FBI uses to compute the percent of offenses cleared for arson is less than the number it uses to compute the percent of offenses cleared for all other offenses.
² Suburban areas include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and county law enforcement agencies that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Suburban areas exclude all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city. The agencies associated with suburban areas also appear in other groups within this table.

Data Declaration

Provides the methodology used in constructing this table and other pertinent information about this table.

Overview

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In 2009, 14,274 agencies provided clearance data to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
Nationwide in 2009, 47.1 percent of violent crimes were cleared by arrest or exceptional means.
Law enforcement agencies cleared 18.6 percent of property crimes in 2009.
Cities with populations of less than 10,000 inhabitants cleared the highest percentage (56.3) of violent crimes.
Cities with populations of 10,000 to 24,999 cleared 23.4 percent of property crimes—the highest clearance percentage among city groupings.
Nonmetropolitan county law enforcement agencies cleared 60.3 percent of violent crimes in 2009; law enforcement in metropolitan counties cleared 52.6 percent of violent crimes.
Law enforcement in nonmetropolitan counties cleared 18.3 percent of property crimes, and metropolitan county law enforcement agencies cleared 18.2 percent of property crimes.