Since January, the number of homicides in Boston has more than doubled compared to the same period in 2024.
City officials gathered two weeks ago to outline plans to keep residents safe during the summer months, when crime tends to spike. This is due to more daylight, city activity, kids on summer break and peak tourism — all feeding interactions that can spiral into skirmishes and violence.
“In the last three years, we’ve really been focused on responding not just after something horribly tragic has happened and figuring out what we can do, how we can support, how we can try not to repeat,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said at the press conference in Dorchester.
“But to have that same level of vigilance, that same level of outreach and that same person-by-person approach all throughout the year.”
There have been 14 homicides in Boston since the start of the year. There were six during that same time period in 2024.
But law enforcement says the spike doesn’t point to a crisis. They note that last year’s numbers were unusually low and that even with the increase, Boston remains one of the safest big cities in the country in 2025.
“Our focus is to work ever closer and harder with our law enforcement and community partners no matter if crime trends move up or down,” said Suffolk County District Attorney spokesperson James Borghesani.
“We know there will be variances each year. Our overarching goal is to keep Boston’s homicide and overall crime rate low compared to the city’s historic past,” Borghesani said. The office is “confident” that its “multi-front approach will continue to deliver promising long-term results.”
Yet, how Boston will fare for the rest of 2025 remains to be seen — especially when a third of the city’s gun violence has occurred in the summer months in the past decade.
The lowest rate since 1957
In December last year, city officials — Wu and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox — said they saw one of the safest years in recent memory.
There were 24 homicides across the city in 2024 — the lowest since 1957. The year prior, 37 people were killed, and 40 people were victims of homicide in both 2022 and 2021. A total of 56 people were killed in 2020.
“Today is not a victory lap, but a report out and a reflection of the type of results we see when we all understand communities’ collective responsibility,” Wu said in December.
The officials attributed the numbers to partnerships across leadership. This included the city’s police recruitment and retention, community-coordinated efforts with city and local organizations and improved communication within departments on crime statistics.
Homicide rates for 2025
Beyond the 14 homicides recorded this year, Boston police have also classified two incidents from previous years as homicides.
Of the 14 killings that happened in Boston as of June 2025, 10 were shooting deaths. The ages of the victims ranged from 18 to 77 years old.
Over the past decade, around 70% of homicides in Boston have occurred in either Roxbury, Dorchester, or Mattapan, according to a report from Northeastern University with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.
Roxbury has already recorded the highest number of homicides this year, with five so far, up from just one in the same period in 2024.
Mattapan has the second-highest total, with four homicides compared to three at this time last year. One person has been killed in Dorchester, the same rate as in 2024.
These deaths include 18-year-old Leroy Ryner killed in Mattapan on Jan. 30, and 20-year-old Kareem Daveiga-Booth killed in Dorchester nine days before.
No arrests have yet been made in either of the young Black men’s killings from six months ago.
In the Northeastern University report, some homicide survivors say Boston police’s relationship with Black Bostonians hasn’t fully recovered from past racial issues. Some feel their race has played a role in getting cases solved.
In Charlestown, there have been two homicides this year, compared to none halfway through 2024.
The victims — Joseph Donahue, 46, and Joseph Donohue, 65, both of Charlestown — were killed within a month of each other in January and February. Two different people, David Menezes and Nora Nelson, have been charged in connection with their deaths, respectively.
And in Allston and Jamaica Plain, one person has been killed in both neighborhoods so far this year. There were no homicides in either at this point in 2024.
How does Boston stack up to other major U.S. cities?
Still, Boston is considered one of the safest major cities in the nation, even at the current homicide rate in 2025. The city was ranked 15th nationally in a January report by Forbes, which also considered other violent crime factors outside of homicide rates.
Cities of similar size, like Milwaukee, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Memphis, all have significantly higher homicide rates than Boston at this point in the year. Even with higher figures than Boston, those cities are seeing a downward trend in killings.
So far in 2025, there have been 56 homicides in Milwaukee, 59 in Baltimore, and 75 in Washington, D.C. A total of 90 homicides were reported in Memphis as of May 19.
Even with its low rates, Boston officials still pay attention to public safety matters. This spring, Downtown Crossing received a speedy makeover after complaints of discarded needles, homelessness, public assaults and a 30% rise in shoplifting in the last year were called an “urgent” threat by neighborhood residents and business owners.
And with a third of gun violence happening in the summer months over the past decade, with 64 people shot in 46 incidents last summer, city officials are looking for more ways to keep this year’s homicide rates low.
Police will be focused on preventing violence in areas where it has historically occurred the most, officials said in May.
A Harvard survey from last year found Black Bostonians much more likely to feel the police don’t take their complaints seriously. But detectives rely heavily on witness cooperation, the Northeastern University report revealed, which is often lacking in neighborhoods like Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury — therefore undermining the efforts of the Boston police Violent Crime Unit.
Commissioner Cox stressed that officers will be stationed in those areas this summer regularly to build trust and get to know residents.
“They’re there to listen and make sure we address the problems in your community that you may be having,” he said.
