Nearly nine out of 10 black homicide victims killed with guns, new VPC Study finds

Missouri continues to have highest rate of Black homicide victimization in the nation

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Nearly nine out of 10 Black homicide victims die by gunfire, according to the latest edition of Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2023 Homicide Data, an annual study from the Violence Policy Center (VPC). In 2023 (the most recent year for which data are available), there were 12,276 Black homicide victims in the United States.

Of these victims, 10,563 (86.0 percent) died by gunfire. Black Americans comprised 13.7 percent of the U.S. population that year, yet represented 53.8 percent of all homicide victims.

The victimization data presented in the study reveals that homicides claim an average of 236 Black lives every week, nearly 34 every day. Nationwide, the Black homicide victimization rate was 26.6 per 100,000.

In addition to national data, the annual study also ranks the states according to their Black homicide victimization rates and offers additional information for each of the 10 states with the highest Black homicide victimization rates. In 2023, the 10 states with the highest Black homicide victimization rates were: Missouri, Illinois, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.