The U.S. murder rate is currently at its lowest level since the 1950s.

The available sources broadly agree that the U.S. Murder rate fell sharply in 2025 and continued declining in early 2026. However, they do not consistently support the specific comparison to the 1950s.

• The Independent, Governing, and The Conversation describe the 2025 rate as likely the lowest since reliable national data began in 1960. That supports a claim about the modern statistical record beginning in 1960, but it does not by itself prove a comparison with the 1950s.
• The New York Times, Axios, Human Progress, and Fox News discuss a rate that was reportedly the lowest since 1900, but their figures concern preliminary data or 35 large cities rather than a definitive, finalized nationwide rate. The White House statement reported by Fox News also does not independently establish the underlying national comparison.
• NPR reported that murders fell 18.7 percent during the first four months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025 and said this could produce the lowest murder rate on record. Because those figures cover only part of 2026, they cannot yet establish the full-year rate.
• The BBC notes that the FBI is the principal source for U.S. Crime statistics, but the supplied excerpt does not provide a finalized FBI national homicide rate proving the specific 1950s comparison.

The wording may therefore create a stronger impression than the evidence supports. The best-supported formulation from these sources is that the 2025 murder rate was preliminarily the lowest in the modern period, likely since reliable national data began in 1960, while early 2026 data suggested an even lower full-year rate. The supplied sources do not directly verify the broader claim that the current rate is the lowest since the 1950s.