TABLE 4. Number, percentage,* and rate^† of homicides, by selected demographic characteristics of decedent, method of injury used, location in which injury occurred, incident characteristics, and victim-suspect relationship^§ — National Violent Death Reporting System, 48 states and District of Columbia,^¶ 2021.

Characteristic	Male		Female		Total
	No. (%)	Rate	No. (%)	Rate	No. (%)	Rate
Age group, yrs
<1	137 (<1.0)	8.8	98 (2.3)	6.6	236 (1.1)	7.7
1–4	160 (<1.0)	2.4	106 (2.5)	1.7	266 (1.2)	2.0
5–9	91 (<1.0)	1.0	72 (1.7)	0.9	163 (<1.0)	0.9
10–14	171 (<1.0)	1.8	76 (1.8)	0.9	247 (1.1)	1.4
15–19	2,058 (11.4)	21.8	323 (7.6)	3.6	2,381 (10.7)	12.9
20–24	2,879 (16.0)	30.6	469 (11.0)	5.2	3,348 (15.0)	18.1
25–29	2,888 (16.0)	29.6	543 (12.7)	5.7	3,431 (15.4)	17.8
30–34	2,534 (14.1)	25.4	497 (11.6)	5.1	3,031 (13.6)	15.3
35–44	3,360 (18.7)	18.0	776 (18.2)	4.2	4,136 (18.6)	11.1
45–54	1,841 (10.2)	10.6	527 (12.3)	3.0	2,368 (10.6)	6.8
55–64	1,190 (6.6)	6.6	365 (8.5)	2.0	1,555 (7.0)	4.2
65–74	521 (2.9)	3.9	251 (5.9)	1.7	772 (3.5)	2.7
75–84	149 (<1.0)	2.5	117 (2.7)	1.5	266 (1.2)	2.0
≥85	34 (<1.0)	1.9	51 (1.2)	1.6	85 (<1.0)	1.7
Unknown	2 (<1.0)	—**	0 (0.0)	—	3 (<1.0)	—
Race and ethnicity††
American Indian or Alaska Native	203 (1.1)	18.0	58 (1.4)	5.0	261 (1.2)	11.4
Asian	164 (<1.0)	2.1	81 (1.9)	1.0	245 (1.1)	1.5
Black or African American	11,003 (61.1)	62.5	1,857 (43.5)	9.7	12,860 (57.7)	35.0
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander	24 (<1.0)	11.7	5 (<1.0)	—	29 (<1.0)	7.1
White	3,484 (19.3)	4.0	1,586 (37.1)	1.8	5,071 (22.8)	2.9
More than one race	168 (<1.0)	5.2	71 (1.7)	2.2	239 (1.1)	3.7
Hispanic or Latino	2,885 (16.0)	12.3	591 (13.8)	2.6	3,476 (15.6)	7.5
Unspecified or unknown	84 (<1.0)	—	22 (<1.0)	—	107 (<1.0)	—
Method
Firearm	14,942 (82.9)	10.7	2,872 (67.2)	2.0	17,815 (79.9)	6.3
Sharp instrument	1,322 (7.3)	0.9	493 (11.5)	0.3	1,815 (8.1)	0.6
Blunt instrument	481 (2.7)	0.3	243 (5.7)	0.2	724 (3.2)	0.3
Personal weapons (e.g., hands, feet, or fists)	397 (2.2)	0.3	143 (3.3)	0.1	540 (2.4)	0.2
Hanging, strangulation, or suffocation	138 (<1.0)	0.1	187 (4.4)	0.1	326 (1.5)	0.1
Motor vehicles (e.g., buses, motorcycles, or other transport vehicles)	99 (<1.0)	<0.1	43 (1.0)	<0.1	142 (<1.0)	<0.1
Poisoning	56 (<1.0)	<0.1	46 (1.1)	<0.1	102 (<1.0)	<0.1
Fire or burns	51 (<1.0)	<0.1	29 (<1.0)	<0.1	80 (<1.0)	<0.1
Fall	28 (<1.0)	<0.1	16 (<1.0)	—	44 (<1.0)	<0.1
Intentional neglect	15 (<1.0)	—	24 (<1.0)	<0.1	39 (<1.0)	<0.1
Shaking (e.g., shaken baby syndrome)	24 (<1.0)	<0.1	11 (<1.0)	—	35 (<1.0)	<0.1
Drowning	16 (<1.0)	—	9 (<1.0)	—	25 (<1.0)	<0.1
Other (e.g., Taser, electrocution, or nail gun)	33 (<1.0)	—	8 (<1.0)	—	41 (<1.0)	—
Unknown	413 (2.3)	—	147 (3.4)	—	560 (2.5)	—
Location of injury
House or apartment	6,458 (35.8)	4.6	2,548 (59.7)	1.8	9,007 (40.4)	3.2
Street or highway	4,451 (24.7)	3.2	451 (10.6)	0.3	4,902 (22.0)	1.7
Motor vehicle	2,011 (11.2)	1.4	414 (9.7)	0.3	2,426 (10.9)	0.9
Parking lot, public garage, or public transport	960 (5.3)	0.7	110 (2.6)	<0.1	1,070 (4.8)	0.4
Commercial or retail area	922 (5.1)	0.7	102 (2.4)	<0.1	1,024 (4.6)	0.4
Hotel or motel	279 (1.5)	0.2	86 (2.0)	<0.1	365 (1.6)	0.1
Natural area	246 (1.4)	0.2	66 (1.5)	<0.1	312 (1.4)	0.1
Bar or nightclub	276 (1.5)	0.2	25 (<1.0)	<0.1	301 (1.4)	0.1
Park, playground, sports, or athletic area	248 (1.4)	0.2	40 (<1.0)	<0.1	288 (1.3)	0.1
Jail or prison	122 (<1.0)	<0.1	2 (<1.0)	—	124 (<1.0)	<0.1
Other location§§	689 (3.8)	—	143 (3.3)	—	832 (3.7)	—
Unknown	1,353 (7.5)	—	284 (6.6)	—	1,637 (7.3)	—
Incident characteristic
Emergency medical services present	12,847 (71.3)	9.2	2,862 (67.0)	2.0	15,710 (70.5)	5.5
Injured at victim’s home	3,360 (18.7)	2.4	1,944 (45.5)	1.4	5,305 (23.8)	1.9
Child present or witnessed incident	1,295 (7.2)	0.9	660 (15.5)	0.5	1,955 (8.8)	0.7
Victim was suspected of alcohol use preceding the incident	1,282 (7.1)	0.9	243 (5.7)	0.2	1,525 (6.8)	0.5
Victim was experiencing homelessness	460 (2.6)	0.3	65 (1.5)	<0.1	525 (2.4)	0.2
Victim was injured at work or while working	333 (1.8)	0.2	79 (1.8)	<0.1	412 (1.8)	0.2
Victim was recently released from or admitted to an institutional setting	243 (1.3)	0.2	54 (1.3)	<0.1	297 (1.3)	0.1
Victim was experiencing housing instability	205 (1.1)	0.2	66 (1.5)	<0.1	271 (1.2)	0.1
Victim was in public custody when injury occurred	226 (1.3)	0.2	9 (<1.0)	—	235 (1.1)	<0.1
Relationship of victim to suspect¶¶
Acquaintance or friend	1,462 (29.1)	1.0	211 (9.3)	0.2	1,673 (23.0)	0.6
Spouse or intimate partner (current or former)	374 (7.5)	0.3	1,155 (51.0)	0.8	1,529 (21.0)	0.5
Other person, known to victim	1,150 (22.9)	0.8	201 (8.9)	0.1	1,351 (18.5)	0.5
Stranger	910 (18.1)	0.7	157 (6.9)	0.1	1,067 (14.6)	0.4
Other relative	403 (8.0)	0.3	147 (6.5)	0.1	550 (7.6)	0.2
Parent***	251 (5.0)	0.2	181 (8.0)	0.1	432 (5.9)	0.2
Child***	251 (5.0)	0.2	170 (7.5)	0.1	422 (5.8)	0.2
Child of suspect’s boyfriend or girlfriend (e.g., child killed by mom's boyfriend)	65 (1.3)	<0.1	33 (1.5)	<0.1	98 (1.3)	<0.1
Rival gang member	78 (1.6)	<0.1	3 (<1.0)	—	81 (1.1)	<0.1
Other relationship†††	74 (1.5)	—	7 (<1.0)	—	81 (1.1)	—
Total	18,015 (100)	12.8	4,271 (100)	3.0	22,288 (100)	7.9

* Percentages might not total 100% due to rounding. Sex was unknown for two decedents.

^† Per 100,000 population.

^§ The following sentence can be used as a guide for interpreting the victim-suspect relationship: “The victim is the [insert relationship] of the suspect.” For example, when a parent kills a child, the relationship is “child” not “parent” (“The victim is the child of the suspect”). This sentence is intended to be a general guide; certain relationships might not be captured by this sentence (e.g., other person known to victim or victim was law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty).

^¶ Includes all U.S. states and District of Columbia, with exception of Florida and Hawaii. Data for California are for violent deaths that occurred in 31 counties (Amador, Butte, Colusa, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Benito, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Ventura, and Yolo). Data for Texas are for violent deaths that occurred in 13 counties (Bell, Bexar, Collin, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Fort Bend, Harris, Montgomery, Nueces, Tarrant, Travis, and Williamson). Denominators for the rates for California and Texas represent only the populations of the counties from which the data were collected.

** Dashes indicate cell data are suppressed because number of decedents is <20 or when characteristic response is “Other” or “Unknown.”

^†† Persons of Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic) origin might be of any race but are categorized as Hispanic; all racial groups are non-Hispanic.

^§§ Other location includes (in descending order): abandoned house, building, or warehouse; supervised residential facility; industrial or construction area; office building; preschool, school, college, or school bus; hospital or medical facility; synagogue, church, or temple; farm; railroad tracks; cemetery, graveyard, or other burial ground; bridge; and other unspecified location.

^¶¶ Percentage is based on the number of homicide decedents with a known victim-suspect relationship (n = 7,284 [32.7%]; 5,018 [27.9%] males and 2,265 [53.0%] females); the victim-suspect relationship was unknown for 15,004 decedents.

*** Includes adoptive family members (e.g., adopted child), stepfamily members (e.g., stepparent), and foster family members (e.g., foster child).

^††† Other victim-suspect relationship includes (in descending order): intimate partner of suspect’s parent (e.g., teenager kills his mother’s boyfriend) and victim was law enforcement officer injured in line of duty.