San Diego, other big U.S. cities see decrease in homicides so far in 2024

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- Homicides in San Diego fell sharply from the same point in time a year ago, following a nationwide trend of declining numbers, new data shows.

In the 2024 year-to-date murder comparison by AH Datalytics, San Diego has seen a nearly 40 percent dip in murders from the beginning of the year to April 17, compared to the same timeframe last year.

Data collected from the San Diego Police Department's year-to-date crime summary dashboard showed 13 homicides have been reported as of April 17 this year, compared to 21 in the same time period last year.

Nationwide, the number of murders have fallen nearly 20 percent, according to AH Datalytics. About 2,500 homicides were reported in 2023 across the country from January to April compared to just over 2,000 so far this year. That's according to data collected from law enforcement agencies in 218 major U.S. cities.

Meanwhile, Chula Vista has seen a 50 percent decline in homicides this year. El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside and National City were on the list but did not have any data to report for either 2023 or 2024.

In the state of California, murders have declined about seven percent so far this year. However, a few cities reported spikes in homicide numbers. Antioch saw a 300 percent increase (from one homicide reported in the first three months of 2023 compared to four this year), while Riverside and Vallejo both reported 50 percent increases. Los Angeles saw nearly a 10 percent spike in the number of homicides reported so far this year.