Microproduct Data GuideIntermediate

FBI Crime Data Explorer

Uniform Crime Reporting summaries and NIBRS extracts for building U.S. crime trend and agency-comparison tools.

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At a Glance

Difficulty
Intermediate — some data preparation helps
Size
Medium · ≤5 GB
Formats
JSON, CSV
Access
API or Download
API Key
Required
Provider
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Updates
Annual
Last Verified
Sep 27, 2026
Source Type
Government Source
Data Terms
U.S. Government public data / federal copyright guidance
  • Python Syntax Checked

From Source to Product Signal

Test a Product Idea in Four Steps

The FBI Crime Data API returns Uniform Crime Reporting summaries. Start with national participation or one state series after requesting a free api.data.gov key. Agency coverage is voluntary, SRS and NIBRS are not interchangeable, and recent years can be incomplete.

1

Check the Setup

  • Python 3.10 or newer
  • A notebook environment such as Jupyter or Google Colab
  • A free api.data.gov key saved in the FBI_CDE_API_KEY environment variable
2

Access the Data

  1. 1.Open Crime Data Explorer and request a free key at api.data.gov.
  2. 2.Read the API documentation for summarized state estimates.
  3. 3.Request a bounded violent-crime series for one state.
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3

Run the Python Example

Install the packages, then run the notebook cell.

python -m pip install pandas requests

import os
import pandas as pd
import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.usa.gov/crime/fbi/sapi/api/estimates/states/CA/2020/2022",
    params={"api_key": os.environ["FBI_CDE_API_KEY"]},
    timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
estimates = pd.DataFrame(response.json().get("results", response.json()))
print(estimates.head())
4

Test a Useful Signal

Compare One State's Reported Violent Crime across Three Years

Test whether CDE estimates can power a bounded state crime trend.

  1. 01Keep year, state, and violent-crime counts from the estimates response.
  2. 02Chart the three-year series and record any missing years.
  3. 03Explain that voluntary reporting, SRS-to-NIBRS transition, and population changes limit year-to-year comparison.

Related Datasets

Dataset Details

Federal Bureau of Investigation is a government source. Last verified 2026-09-27. Temporal coverage: 1985-present summarized UCR series.

Geography

United States

Formats

JSONCSV

Provider

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Data Terms

U.S. Government public data / federal copyright guidance

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