After touted ‘historic’ reduction of murders in 2026, Baltimore back on 2025 pace

(Oct. 20, 2026 / JNS)

Baltimore, which is home to one of the largest Jewish populations in the country and had long been one of the cities with the country’s highest murder rates, has received extensive national media coverage this year for its “historic” reduction of homicides.

In August, the New York Times reported that the city achieved an “incredible milestone” with the fewest homicides ever in the city in that span so far in the year, and on July 1, Mayor Brandon Scott, a Democrat, said that “we are making progress on public safety that many thought was impossible.”

As of six days ago, official city crime data recorded 89 homicides so far in 2026, compared to 103 in that span in 2025. But on Tuesday, the city said that the 2026 homicide count had surged to 101, down just slightly from the 2025 count at this point in the year, of 105.

In that six day span, in which there were two homicides in 2025, the 2026 count was 12.

Nonfatal shootings in the city are also slightly ahead of last year—253 compared to 247, according to Baltimore Police Department statistics. (JNS sought comment from the department.)

On July 1, the city said that the 50 murders so far in the year were “the fewest homicides ever recorded in Baltimore through the first six months of a calendar year.”

“Compared to this date last year, Baltimore has seen a 23.1% decrease in homicides and a 2.5% decrease in non-fatal shootings,” the city said at the time.

“We know that our work is not done. One life lost to violence in our city is one too many,” the mayor said at the time.

“But after decades of losing hundreds of friends, family members and loved ones to gun violence every year, we are finally seeing sustained reductions in shootings and homicides and building the safer, healthier neighborhoods our residents deserve,” he said.