The Arizona Department of Public Safety maintains a website with statewide crime statistics. It reports 212 homicides in the Valley so far this year.
This appears to be the reversal of a trend of rising homicides since 2019. Year-to-date numbers confirm the trend.
The most recent data for homicides this year ends in October and, when only the first 10 months of this year are considered, homicides this year are still at the lowest since 2019.
The first set of data shows the number of homicides from 2017 to 2023 between January and October. The second set of data shows the homicides from 2017 to 2023 for the whole year.
The worst months for homicides in the Valley are the spring months of May followed by April. August comes in with the third-highest number of homicides and is the only other month with over 150 homicides since 2017.
Maricopa County's per capita homicide rate is the fourth highest among Arizona’s 15 counties with 39 homicides for every 100,000 people. Yuma County had the highest homicide rate followed by La Paz County. Both counties had rates over 50 for every 100,000. Pima County led Maricopa with a rate of 44. The lowest homicide rates in Arizona were found in the northeastern part of the state.
Focusing on teens killed in shootings, data from the Gun Violence Archive shows Arizona ranks 16th per capita, proportionate to the state’s overall population rank of 14th. The state with the highest rate of teen gun violence was Louisiana, followed by Mississippi.
