2025 U.S. Mass Killings Decrease, But Don’t Expect a Permanent Downward Trend

The United States recorded the lowest number of mass killings so far in 2025 than any time since 2006, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press (AP), USA Today, and Northeastern University.

A shooting last weekend at a children’s birthday party in California was the 17th mass killing this year—down about 24 percent compared to 2024. Mass killings also decreased last year, down 20 percent from 2023.

The database project defines mass killings as incidents in which four or more people are killed in a 24-hour period, not including the killer. Unlike other projects, like the Gun Violence Archive, the AP database includes mass killings that use weapons beyond firearms, including edged weapons, fire, and vehicle crashes—such as the New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Experts warn, though, not to take this year’s numbers as a sign of long-term change around mass violence in the United States.

James Densley, a professor at Metro State University in St. Paul, Minnesota, told the AP that, “Because there’s only a few dozen mass killings in a year, a small change could look like a wave or a collapse,” when really it’s just a return to more typical levels. The year “2025 looks really good in historical context, but we can’t pretend like that means the problem is gone for good,” Densely added.

James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, who manages the database, said that the current drop in numbers likely represents a return to more average crime levels. The reduction comes after an unusual spike in mass killings in 2018 and 2019 (more than 45 mass killings in 2019), as well as an overall spike in murder and crime in the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alongside generally lower violent crime rates this year, improvements in mass shooting responses could be playing a part in the reduced number of incidents that meet the mass killing threshold. The shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in August, for instance, was not included in the count since only two people were killed. More than 20 injured people were saved by effective trauma response and bleeding control by first responders, Densley said.

Experts also speculated to the AP that improved school threat assessment protocols could be preventing some mass shootings. None of the mass killings recorded so far in 2025 took place in schools.

Other major findings from the database include:

• Most of the mass killings recorded in the database since 2006 took place in or around residences (67 percent), not public spaces.
  
  
• Almost 82 percent of this year’s mass killings involved a firearm. Since 2006, 3,234 people have died in mass killings, and 81 percent were shooting victims.
  
  
• Mass killings involving family members made up 48 percent of all mass killings since 2006.
  
  
• The median age of a mass killing offender is 30; most perpetrators are men.
  
  
• In almost one-third of cases, offenders died by suicide. In 6 percent of cases, offenders were killed at the scene.
  
  
• Mass killings in schools and places of worship were uncommon. Since 2006, there have been 14 mass killings in schools and eight in houses of worship. Although they are rare, these incidents are especially deadly, resulting in some of the highest numbers of deaths.