Visualizing Two Decades of Reported Hate Crimes in the U.S.
Across the U.S., thousands of hate crimes are committed each year, with many different motivating biases.
In 2020 alone, more than 10,000 unique hate crime incidents were reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)—and it’s likely that thousands more were committed that didn’t get reported to law enforcement.
What are the most commonly reported motivating biases, and how have hate crime rates evolved over the years? This graphic uses data from the FBI to visualize two decades of reported hate crime incidents across America.
What is Considered a Hate Crime?
Before diving in, it’s important to determine what constitutes a hate crime.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a hate crime is a crime that’s “committed on the basis of the victim’s perceived or actual race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.”
These types of crimes are a threat to society, as they have a broader impact on communities than other types of crimes do. This is because hate crimes can foster fear and intimidate large groups of people or marginalized communities, making them feel unwelcome, unsafe, or othered.
Hate Crimes on the Rise
Hate crimes have been rising across the U.S. in nearly every year since 2014. By 2020, reported crimes across America reached record-level highs not seen in over two decades.
| Year | Number of Reported Incidents | % Change (y-o-y) |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 9730 | 18.4% |
| 2002 | 7485 | -23.1% |
| 2003 | 7545 | 0.8% |
| 2004 | 7685 | 1.9% |
| 2005 | 7411 | -3.6% |
| 2006 | 7715 | 4.1% |
| 2007 | 7625 | -1.2% |
| 2008 | 8039 | 5.4% |
| 2009 | 6613 | -17.7% |
| 2010 | 6633 | 0.3% |
| 2011 | 6299 | -5.0% |
| 2012 | 6594 | 4.7% |
| 2013 | 6044 | -8.3% |
| 2014 | 5599 | -7.4% |
| 2015 | 5871 | 4.9% |
| 2016 | 6276 | 6.9% |
| 2017 | 7321 | 16.7% |
| 2018 | 7170 | -2.1% |
| 2019 | 7892 | 10.1% |
| 2020 | 10299 | 30.5% |
And sadly, these figures are likely a vast undercount. Law enforcement submit this data to the FBI of their own volition, and in 2020, thousands of agencies did not submit their crime statistics.
Race-Related Hate Crimes are Most Common
Historically, the most reported hate crimes in the U.S. are related to race. In 2020, about 66% of incidents were motivated by discrimination against the victim’s race or ethnicity.
| Type of Bias | Total Number of Crimes (2020) | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Race/Ethnicity | 6793 | 66.0% |
| Religion | 1626 | 15.8% |
| Sexual Orientation | 1311 | 12.7% |
| Other | 569 | 5.5% |
| Total | 10299 | -- |
While race is the most commonly reported hate crime, incidents related to gender and gender identity are on the rise—in 2020, there was a 9% increase in gender-related incidents, and a 34% increase in gender identity-related incidents, compared to 2019 figures.
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