๐ฐ Crime Cost Calculator
Crime isn't just a safety issue โ it's an economic one. Every murder, assault, robbery, and burglary carries enormous costs: medical bills, lost productivity, criminal justice, property damage, and the incalculable toll of pain and suffering.
Key Insights
- โCrime costs the US an estimated $2.6 trillion per year (DOJ, RAND Corporation)
- โOne murder costs society an estimated $9.9 million (includes lost productivity, criminal justice, victim costs)
- โAggravated assault: ~$107,000 per incident. Robbery: ~$42,000. Burglary: ~$6,400
- โCities with high crime rates bear a disproportionate economic burden per capita
- โProperty crime costs are lower per incident but far higher in volume โ ~6.7 million incidents per year
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Search for any city above
We'll calculate the estimated annual economic cost of crime using DOJ per-crime cost data.
Methodology
Cost estimates combine data from multiple sources:
- Murder: $9.9 million per incident (McCollister, French & Fang, 2010; adjusted for inflation to 2024 dollars)
- Rape: $280,000 per incident
- Robbery: $42,000 per incident
- Aggravated Assault: $107,000 per incident
- Burglary: $6,400 per incident
- Larceny-Theft: $3,500 per incident
- Motor Vehicle Theft: $10,800 per incident
- Arson: $21,000 per incident
These figures include tangible costs (medical, criminal justice, property) and intangible costs (pain, suffering, lost quality of life). Actual costs vary widely by incident severity. These are societal averages.
Sources: McCollister, French & Fang ("The Cost of Crime to Society," Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2010), RAND Corporation, Bureau of Justice Statistics, adjusted to 2024 dollars using CPI-U.