Baltimore records first July with single-digit homicides in 25 years

Baltimore closed July with single-digit homicides, the first July in roughly 25 years to do so, a milestone that gives city leaders a rare crime drop to point to and residents a reason for cautious relief. But the number also lands beside a harder question in places like Penn North and other neighborhoods where violence has not disappeared: is this a lasting turn, or a brief statistical break?

Mayor Brandon M. Scott said on July 1 that Baltimore was seeing “continued historic crime reductions” in 2026, and the Baltimore Police Department’s mid-year crime report covered citywide incidents from Jan. 1 through June 30. In that period, police said homicides and violent crime were down in what the department described as a historic decline. Police data posted through Open Baltimore are preliminary, a reminder that the totals can still shift as cases are reviewed.

The broader numbers help explain why the July milestone drew attention. A Council on Criminal Justice analysis cited by WBAL-TV found Baltimore’s homicide rate midway through 2026 was 68% below 2019 levels, putting the city among the nation’s steepest drops. As of July 1, Baltimore had recorded 68 homicides, 15 fewer than at the same point in 2025, another sign that the downward trend was already building before July ended.

City officials have linked the decline to a mix of focused violence prevention, enforcement and neighborhood engagement, including work by the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and the Baltimore Police Department. Scott and other officials have also used the lower totals to argue that the city’s strategy is working, while warning that every loss remains unacceptable. By late June, Baltimore was already being described as having its lowest homicide rate in nearly 50 years under Scott, adding to the sense that 2026 was becoming a benchmark year.

Still, citywide progress does not erase block-to-block differences. The Baltimore Sun’s crime data page continues to direct readers to neighborhood and block-level maps, underscoring that residents can live in the same city but experience very different levels of risk. Baltimore’s single-digit July may mark a meaningful shift, but the durability of that shift will be tested by whether nonfatal shootings and other violence indicators keep moving in the same direction.