State-by-state homicide comparison

Nearly 185,000 cases of homicide and non-negligent manslaughter went unsolved from 1980 to 2008, according to a Scripps Howard News Service study of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.

Below are the total number of homicides reported in each state, the rate at which homicides are solved through arrest and the estimated number of unsolved homicides.

State ............ Murders .. Clearance .. Unsolved
Alabama ........... 11,026 .... 55% ..... 4,974
Alaska ............. 1,256 .... 74 ....... 327
Arizona ............ 9,827 .... 61 ...... 3,791
Arkansas ........... 5,780 .... 82 ...... 1,068
California ........ 82,463 .... 59 ..... 33,456
Colorado ........... 5,198 .... 66 ...... 1,765
Connecticut ........ 4,100 .... 71 ...... 1,203
Delaware ............. 859 .... 72 ........ 244
D.C. ............... 8,066 .... 53 ...... 3,778
Florida ........... 31,715 .... 60 ..... 12,658
Georgia ........... 18,383 .... 60 ...... 7,282
Hawaii ............. 1,128 .... 64 ........ 411
Idaho ................ 937 .... 81 ........ 176
Illinois-1......... 25,254 .... 64 ...... 8,974
Indiana ............ 9,485 .... 57 ...... 4,098
Iowa ............... 1,459 .... 73 ........ 389
Kansas ............. 2,865 .... 55 ...... 1,281
Kentucky ........... 5,443 .... 69 ...... 1,670
Louisiana ......... 16,863 .... 64 ...... 6,110
Maine ................ 701 .... 80 ........ 139
Maryland .......... 14,004 .... 66 ...... 4,752
Massachusetts ...... 5,129 .... 61 ...... 2,022
Michigan .......... 23,682 .... 52 ..... 11,367
Minnesota .......... 3,411 .... 60 ...... 1,358
Mississippi ........ 5,502 .... 73 ...... 1,505
Missouri .......... 11,837 .... 73 ...... 3,176
Montana .............. 528 .... 68 ........ 170
Nebraska ........... 1,462 .... 84 ........ 239
Nevada ............. 4,282 .... 63 ...... 1,597
New Hampshire ........ 501 .... 67 ........ 165
New Jersey ........ 11,381 .... 71 ...... 3,326
New Mexico ......... 3,526 .... 65 ...... 1,224
New York-1 .........45,740 .... 65 ..... 16,104
North Carolina .... 16,684 .... 81 ...... 3,155
North Dakota ......... 224 .... 82 ......... 40
Ohio .............. 15,831 .... 65 ...... 5,501
Oklahoma ........... 6,857 .... 83 ...... 1,132
Oregon ............. 3,268 .... 64 ...... 1,189
Pennsylvania ...... 19,517 .... 77 ...... 4,427
Rhode Island ......... 980 .... 64 ........ 348
South Carolina ..... 9,461 .... 77 ...... 2,153
South Dakota ......... 320 .... 80 ......... 64
Tennessee ......... 12,080 .... 67 ...... 3,952
Texas ............. 52,402 .... 71 ..... 15,050
Utah ............... 1,561 .... 73 ........ 424
Vermont .............. 295 .... 57 ........ 128
Virginia .......... 12,932 .... 74 ...... 3,335
Washington ......... 6,234 .... 71 ...... 1,826
West Virginia ...... 2,533 .... 82 ........ 449
Wisconsin .......... 5,051 .... 81 ........ 965
Wyoming .............. 498 .... 89 ......... 55

Note-1: The number of unsolved homicides was estimated for Illinois and New York since these states provide only partial data for the number of clearances.

Note-2: The total number of homicides in this report is taken from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report and is greater than the totals found in the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Report. More police departments report UCR data, which is required for departments to qualify for Justice Department grants.