America's crime record
Arrests
Drug arrests
727,976
arrests, 2025 · Up 0.5% from 2024
Rate 231.1, about 1 in 430 residents
Timeline
Arrests for drug abuse violations: selling, making, or possessing illegal drugs.
Source and method
They follow enforcement as much as drug use.
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, monthly arrest file (ASR) · Calendar year · 1974 to 2025
- 1974The first year of the FBI's monthly arrest file. Before 1974 agencies sent one arrest report a year, kept only in print.
- 1985 onCrimeDB moves from the FBI UCR master files on the 2008 CD to the Arrests by age, sex, and race (ASR) master file. The Crime Data Explorer serves arrests from 1985 only, so 1974 to 1984 come from the FBI's 2008 CD.
- 1996Florida's agencies leave the arrest file until 2021; its arrests and its people are out of the count and the rate.
- 2015From the FBI's 2017 build of the 2015 file: the same arrests as the 2019 rebuild CDE serves, and the only build that shows which agencies sent all 12 months.
- 2015The Arrests (ASR) monthly master file, 2015, the FBI's 2017 build is another build of the Arrests by age, sex, and race (ASR) master file, kept apart. CrimeDB uses the Arrests (ASR) monthly master file, 2015, the FBI's 2017 build for these years. The 2017 build holds the same arrests as CDE's 2019 rebuild, plus the zero reports and agency list the rebuild drops, so only it says which agencies reported all 12 months.
- 2017The FBI rebuilt the arrest file with new offense codes, and federal agencies join it.
- 2017Florida is left out through 2020: its agencies sent all 12 months with almost no arrests.
- 2018Kansas is left out of 2018: it sent its crime reports with few arrests attached, about a quarter of its usual Group A arrests.
- 2021NIBRS only: agencies that had not moved to NIBRS sent no arrests, so 2021 stands alone and is not joined to the years around it.
- 2022Summary reports accepted again; the file again holds most agencies.
Breakdown
Arrests by sex, 2025
| Male | 73%533,877 | 533,877 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 27%194,099 | 194,099 |
Every arrest in 2025 by agencies that sent all 12 months, the count in the chart above.
FBI monthly arrest file, 2025
Every figure as a table
Drug arrests, arrests, by year
| Year | Count | Rate | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 727,976 | 231 | |
| 2024 | 724,462 | 232 | |
| 2023 | 771,334 | 251 | |
| 2022 | 772,797 | 265 | |
| 2021 | 640,905 | 293 | Stands alone; not joined to other years |
| 2020 | 901,706 | 336 | |
| 2019 | 1,165,461 | 443 | |
| 2018 | 1,336,303 | 501 | |
| 2017 | 1,335,942 | 504 | |
| 2016 | 1,300,812 | 485 | |
| 2015 | 1,194,910 | 458 | |
| 2014 | 1,252,378 | 489 | |
| 2013 | 1,288,009 | 501 | |
| 2012 | 1,247,720 | 489 | |
| 2011 | 1,211,285 | 483 | |
| 2010 | 1,306,285 | 525 | |
| 2009 | 1,333,073 | 539 | |
| 2008 | 1,340,654 | 558 | |
| 2007 | 1,425,171 | 605 | |
| 2006 | 1,421,699 | 622 | |
| 2005 | 1,408,518 | 612 | |
| 2004 | 1,306,401 | 588 | |
| 2003 | 1,243,828 | 566 | |
| 2002 | 1,191,454 | 541 | |
| 2001 | 1,266,343 | 588 | |
| 2000 | 1,269,829 | 620 | |
| 1999 | 1,220,464 | 625 | |
| 1998 | 1,262,583 | 649 | |
| 1997 | 1,247,847 | 640 | |
| 1996 | 1,160,824 | 593 | |
| 1995 | 1,236,998 | 598 | |
| 1994 | 1,121,055 | 539 | |
| 1993 | 1,003,919 | 470 | |
| 1992 | 976,560 | 448 | |
| 1991 | 782,687 | 411 | |
| 1990 | 908,270 | 444 | |
| 1989 | 1,072,652 | 539 | |
| 1988 | 865,602 | 450 | |
| 1987 | 811,089 | 401 | |
| 1986 | 730,789 | 360 | |
| 1985 | 726,082 | 352 | |
| 1984 | 631,804 | 317 | |
| 1983 | 616,937 | 307 | |
| 1982 | 568,013 | 301 | |
| 1981 | 539,281 | 289 | |
| 1980 | 492,109 | 269 | |
| 1979 | 490,727 | 265 | |
| 1978 | 562,889 | 299 | |
| 1977 | 526,514 | 301 | |
| 1976 | 513,236 | 312 | |
| 1975 | 486,846 | 310 | |
| 1974 | 537,208 | 369 |
Rate: Arrests per 100,000 people living where the counted agencies police (those that sent all 12 months), by the FBI's population for those agencies. A rate of arrests measures police action as much as crime.
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, monthly arrest file (ASR) · Calendar year
Drug arrests: arrests per 100,000 people in each group, by race, by year
| Year | White+MENA | Black | Hispanic | AIAN | Asian+NHPI | White+MENA, Hispanic | Black | AIAN | Asian+NHPI | Share with race not tallied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 166 | 488 | 240 | 459 | 41 | – | – | – | – | 12% |
| 2024 | 171 | 474 | 242 | 510 | 40 | – | – | – | – | 11% |
| 2023 | 195 | 504 | 251 | 524 | 44 | – | – | – | – | 10% |
| 2022 | 218 | 535 | 245 | 546 | 48 | – | – | – | – | 9% |
| 2021 | 241 | 577 | 227 | 758 | 57 | – | – | – | – | 10% |
| 2020 | – | – | – | – | – | 309 | 635 | 228 | 63 | 6% |
| 2019 | – | – | – | – | – | 403 | 863 | 275 | 83 | 6% |
| 2018 | – | – | – | – | – | 424 | 923 | 269 | 82 | 12% |
| 2017 | – | – | – | – | – | 429 | 928 | 296 | 86 | 11% |
| 2016 | – | – | – | – | – | 451 | 1,036 | 297 | 95 | 1% |
| 2015 | – | – | – | – | – | 420 | 1,002 | 279 | 92 | 1% |
| 2014 | – | – | – | – | – | 435 | 1,159 | 246 | 100 | 1% |
| 2013 | – | – | – | – | – | 447 | 1,169 | 238 | 95 | <1% |
| 2012 | – | – | – | – | – | 420 | 1,244 | 232 | 97 | 1% |
| 2011 | – | – | – | – | – | 412 | 1,248 | 241 | 76 | <1% |
| 2010 | – | – | – | – | – | 445 | 1,362 | 268 | 81 | <1% |
The Rate view's race lines, from 2010. Each group's line is its arrests per 100,000 people in the group, among the people the counted agencies police. To 2020 the arrest file's race alone: Hispanic people sit inside every group, and Asian includes Pacific Islanders. From 2021 each race is split into Hispanic and not by NIBRS arrestees' recorded shares, so the groups change there.
– means no rate: a group the source does not count apart that year, or no people to divide by. People whose race is not known are in no group's rate, so each rate is a floor.
FBI monthly arrest file (ASR); NIBRS arrestees' recorded Hispanic shares from 2021; Census Bureau population estimates
Arrests by sex, 2025
| Sex | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Male | 533,877 | 73% |
| Female | 194,099 | 27% |
Every arrest in 2025 by agencies that sent all 12 months, the count in the chart above.
FBI monthly arrest file, 2025
Arrests by race, 2025
| Race | Count | Of which placed by CrimeDB | Share | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White+MENA | 293,201 | 293,201 | 40% | 166 |
| Black | 185,720 | 185,720 | 26% | 488 |
| Hispanic | 145,191 | 145,191 | 20% | 240 |
| AIAN | 10,164 | 10,164 | 1% | 459 |
| Asian+NHPI | 9,157 | 9,157 | 1% | 41 |
| Race not tallied | 84,543 | 0 | 12% | – |
Hispanic is of any race; the other groups are not Hispanic. White+MENA includes Middle Eastern and North African people.
Every arrest in 2025 by agencies that sent all 12 months, the count in the chart above. Rate: arrests per 100,000 people in the group; – means no rate for that group.
Arrests, not people: a person arrested twice counts twice. The arrest file tallies race and Hispanic origin apart, never together, so each race is split into Hispanic and not by the share of NIBRS arrestees of that race, state, and year recorded Hispanic (the lighter part of each bar). Asian includes Pacific Islanders. Arrests the race tally doesn't reach are "race not tallied". Rates divide by the Census count of each group among the people the counted agencies police, in the 50 states and DC.
12% have no recorded race, so each group's rate is a floor.
FBI monthly arrest file, 2025; NIBRS arrestees' recorded Hispanic shares; Census Bureau population estimates
Arrests by age, 2025
| Age | Count | Share | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 13 (approximate) | 1,447 | <1% | – |
| 13 to 17 (approximate) | 32,879 | 5% | – |
| 18 to 24 | 111,584 | 15% | 377 |
| 25 to 34 | 198,060 | 27% | 459 |
| 35 to 49 | 270,520 | 37% | 446 |
| 50 to 64 | 99,521 | 14% | 177 |
| 65 and older | 13,965 | 2% | 24 |
Every arrest in 2025 by agencies that sent all 12 months, the count in the chart above. Rate: arrests per 100,000 people in the group; – means no rate for that group.
Under 13 and 13 to 17 stand in for under 12 and 12 to 17: the arrest file's 10 to 12 band holds 12-year-olds, so they get no rate. Rates divide by the Census people of that age among the people the counted agencies police.
FBI monthly arrest file, 2025
Arrests by size of place, 2025
| Size of place | Count | Share | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cities of 250,000 or more | 106,792 | 15% | 168 |
| Cities of 100,000 to 249,999 | 85,118 | 12% | 246 |
| Cities of 50,000 to 99,999 | 86,096 | 12% | 255 |
| Cities of 25,000 to 49,999 | 78,748 | 11% | 247 |
| Cities of 10,000 to 24,999 | 72,914 | 10% | 256 |
| Cities of 2,500 to 9,999 | 46,990 | 7% | 279 |
| Cities under 2,500 | 26,766 | 4% | 930 |
| Counties in a metropolitan area | 147,268 | 20% | 187 |
| Counties outside a metropolitan area | 67,766 | 9% | 283 |
| State police | 7,795 | 1% | – |
| Territories | 1,723 | <1% | 1,120 |
Every arrest in 2025 by agencies that sent all 12 months, the count in the chart above. Rate: arrests per 100,000 people in the group; – means no rate for that group.
By the population group the FBI gives each agency. A county's agencies police the county outside its cities. Rates divide by the people each group's agencies police, by the FBI's count. State police have no people of their own, so no rate; campus, transit, and other agencies with none sit in a city group, which is why the smallest cities' rate runs high.
FBI monthly arrest file, 2025