With just 11 days left in 2022, the City of Philadelphia has again recorded the grisly milestone of 500 homicides in 2022. Though homicides are slightly down when compared with a record-setting 2021, last year marked the first time Philadelphia been the site of 500 murders since 1990.
Philadelphia has seen a dramatic rise in homicides since 2018, with the crisis accelerating out of control in 2020 and continuing now into 2023. Though homicide rates have spiked across the board in America’s cities, Philadelphia’s crime spike has made it the most dangerous city among those with more than 1 million residents.
After a rapid decline in crime following the last spike in the late 2000’s, Philadelphia recorded 246 homicides in 2013. After spiking incrementally in each of the following years, the murder rate accelerated in 2020.
The city fell just short of the tragic 500 murder milestone in that year, with law enforcement data recording 499 homicides. In 2021, the city soared past the deadly milestone with 562 murders and has again crossed that threshold with 502 as of December 21.
