--- description: Baltimore, Milwaukee, New Orleans and St. Louis have been especially hard-hit title: Homicide Rate Spikes in Major American Cities image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a83fa6c08bcfbe7/69885a620a4a2272329c517a/chicago-police.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Homicide Rate Spikes in Major American Cities by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 10, 2015 12:34 PM CUT  A police officer rests his hand on his forehead at the scene where a 23-year old man was shot in the early morning hours of July 6, 2015 in Chicago. A police officer rests his hand on his forehead at the scene where a 23-year old man was shot in the early morning hours of July 6, 2015 in Chicago.Anthony Souffle—Chicago Tribune/TNS/Sipa by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 10, 2015 12:34 PM CUT After years of declining homicide rates, 2015 has been a dark year in several large American cities, with incidents [as much as doubling](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/09/us-cities-homicide-surge-2015/29879091/ "undefined") in some areas. Milwaukee has seen twice as many murders this year as it did in the first half of 2014, according to _USA Today_. Baltimore, New Orleans and St. Louis saw spikes of 33% or more, and cities like Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. have also seen increases. It may be too soon to say whether this is a trend or an anomaly —i ndeed, several major cities have seen decreases in homicide rates, including Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego. While some experts say the numbers reflect a struggle on the part of law enforcement to fund the necessary programs to keep decreasing the homicide rate, others say the numbers may even out as the year progresses. \[[_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/09/us-cities-homicide-surge-2015/29879091/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3952674/crime-surges-major-cities/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3952674/crime-surges-major-cities/"},"headline":"Homicide Rate Spikes in Major American Cities","datePublished":"2015-07-10T12:34:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:08:13.496Z","description":"Baltimore, Milwaukee, New Orleans and St. Louis have been especially hard-hit","url":"https://time.com/3952674/crime-surges-major-cities/","keywords":["Crime","homicide","Gun Violence","cities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a83fa6c08bcfbe7/69885a620a4a2272329c517a/chicago-police.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a83fa6c08bcfbe7/69885a620a4a2272329c517a/chicago-police.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Chicago Police Murder","caption":"Chicago Police Murder","creditText":"Anthony Souffle—Chicago Tribune/TNS/Sipa","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3952674/crime-surges-major-cities/","name":"Homicide Rate Spikes in Major American Cities"}}]}] ```