Why the FBI's Crime Number Differs From Your Police Department's

The short answer

Both numbers can be right. A police department's own dashboard or annual report counts crime by its own rules, for its own purposes. The figure it sends the FBI is counted by the FBI's rules, so the two can be published for the same year and not match. CrimeTally shows only the FBI's figure, because it is the one that can be checked against a public source, and it says so on every page.

Six reasons the two numbers differ

1. Different categories. The FBI's “violent crime” is four offenses: murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. A department's “violent crime” may add simple assault, threats, or weapons offenses, or use its state's statute names, which do not map one to one onto the FBI's.
2. Different counting rules. Under the FBI's older summary system, one incident with several offenses counted once, as the most serious. Its newer system, called NIBRS, records every offense in the incident, and the FBI converts those records back to the old totals for comparison. A department's own count may do neither.
3. Different dates. The FBI counts by calendar year and by the month the offense was reported. A department may use a fiscal year, or date a crime by when it happened rather than when it was reported.
4. Revisions. A department updates its own figures as cases are reclassified or found to be unfounded. The FBI's file is a snapshot of what the agency had submitted by the FBI's deadline, refreshed on the FBI's schedule, so the two can be months apart.
5. Different populations. A rate needs a population, and the FBI assigns one to each agency from Census estimates for the area it polices. A department may use the city's own figure, or a daytime population, and the rate moves with it.
6. Missing months. If the FBI holds fewer than 12 months from an agency, its yearly total is short. CrimeTally shows no rate in that case; a department's own report has all 12 months.

A worked example

The Burlington Police Department reported 214 violent crimes and 1,808 property crimes to the FBI for 2025, for a population of 44,354. The reported violent crime rate is 214 ÷ 44,354 × 100,000 = 482.5 per 100,000 people, and the property rate is 4,076.3. The department publishes its own crime figures on the city's open-data site, under its own categories. If you look there you will find a different set of numbers for the same year, and the reasons above are why. Neither figure is wrong; they answer different questions.

Which one to use

Use the FBI's figure when you want to compare an agency with its own past, or set two agencies side by side with the same definitions behind both. Use the department's own figure when you want the most current count, or detail the FBI does not publish, such as a neighborhood breakdown. Never mix the two in one comparison.

What this guide does not cover

It does not cover how any one department defines its categories, which only that department can say, or the FBI's state and national estimates, which fill gaps for agencies that did not report. It cannot say which figure is closer to the crime that actually happened; most crime is never reported to anyone.

Check your agency

The Crime Rate Lookup shows what any US police agency reported to the FBI, year by year, with the months on file for each, so you can see where the FBI's figure comes from before you compare it with anything else.

This guide is for informational purposes only and is not professional advice. A reported crime rate describes what one police agency reported to the FBI. It says nothing certain about any one home, street or school.

Last reviewed: October 2026 · Against the FBI Crime Data Explorer, September 2026 refresh, and the FBI's UCR Statistics: Their Proper Use.