Peoria Standard

Darin LaHood, U.S. Representative of Illinois, said that Chicago's 2025 murder and shooting rates surpass those of New York City despite the latter's larger population. He attributed this situation to Governor J.B. Pritzker's policies. The statement was made on the social media platform X.

"Gov. Pritzker can try to spin it however he wants, but Chicago is outpacing New York City in murders and shootings in 2025 even though NYC has three times the population," said Darin McKay LaHood, U.S. Representative from Illinois. "His soft-on-crime polices have endangered residents, demoralized law enforcement, and driven families and businesses out of Chicago."

In the first half of 2025, both Chicago and New York City reported notable declines in homicides and shootings, reflecting a broader national trend of reduced violent crime. According to a mid-year update by the Council on Criminal Justice and reporting by PBS NewsHour, Chicago experienced its "safest summer since 1965," while New York City recorded its lowest number of shootings in decades. These trends were driven in part by renewed policing strategies and the easing of pandemic-era disruptions.

Chicago announced that in the first half of 2025, homicides dropped by about 32%, and shooting incidents decreased roughly 38% compared to the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, New York City recorded around a 17.8% decline in murders and a 22.3% drop in shooting incidents year-to-date, as per official law-enforcement summaries and data dashboards. These figures illustrate sharp year-over-year declines for both cities in major violent crime categories.

Based on available data and population estimates, New York City's year-to-date homicide rate in 2025 is approximately 3.1 per 100,000 residents (with 263 murders among about 8.478 million residents), while Chicago's rate is about 6.9 per 100,000 for the first half of the year (with 188 homicides among approximately 2.72 million residents). These rates suggest that Chicago remains at a substantially higher per-capita level despite steeper declines.

LaHood has been serving as the U.S. Representative for Illinois’s 16th Congressional District since 2023, having previously represented the 18th from 2015 to 2023. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Prior to Congress, he worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Illinois state senator.