We took stock of the state of hate in the US through a list of 10 important numbers in 2023. In 2024, the state of hate has continued to grow. While crime overall was down 3%, according to FBI data, hate crimes were up 2% over 2023.
America’s violent, far-right extremists have always understood “the importance of messaging and the power of the media and entertainment to spread their ideology.” We see this every day with the increase in online incitement to violence. Just as we stated in our last numbers update, the state of hate in our country is vast–and consistently growing. Life After Hate puts forward a new list of updated and new numbers that offer a necessary view into the realities and impact of violent extremism in the United States.
80%
16,009 law enforcement agencies reported data this year–the highest number of participants since reporting started. However, of those that did report data, 80% reported zero hate crimes. Zero. And that 80% is inclusive of about 60 cities with over 100,000 in population. As you will see with other numbers included in this list, this underscores how wildly underreported hate crimes are in the FBI’s data.
11,862
The number of hate crimes the FBI reported in 2023–the highest ever recorded since they started recording data in 1991. What we wrote about inconsistencies in the data last year is unfortunately still true: It is widely estimated that even with this increase in participation and reporting, the number of actual incidents is much higher due to a high number of unreported incidents, police disagreeing on hate as a cause, and state inconsistencies with current hate crime laws.
246,000 & 14,416
246,000 is the average number of hate crimes that have occurred each year between 2005 and 2019 as estimated by the National Crime Victimization Survey. This estimate includes the total of hate crimes regardless of reporting or classification status and indicates that reported hate crimes only constitute a tiny fraction of the total. 14,416 is the number of victims of hate crimes in 2023 according to the FBI data in their Hate Crimes and Statistics Report. While the NCV survey is no longer conducted, we believe including its findings underscores the shortcomings of the data in current hate crime reporting.
49%
According to data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 49% of attacks and plots against government targets between 2016 and 2023 were inspired by partisan political views, and 29% were inspired by general opposition to federal authority. In contrast, from 1994 to 2004, 71% of attacks and plots against government targets were inspired by general opposition to federal authority. The chart below depicts the steep increase.
9739
The FBI Hate Crime Statistics identified 9739 known offenders in 2023. This is a slight decrease from 2022. However, the number of victims of hate crimes has increased 5% year-over-year indicating that either more hate crimes are going unsolved or that the average number of victims per offender has increased, or a combination of the two.
1 in 5
An early 2024 poll from PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist revealed that 1 in 5 Americans believed resorting to violence might be necessary to get the country back on track. While this means that 4 out of 5 Americans don’t believe that violence is the answer, we must address this growing threat to our civil society.
53%
The percentage of local elected officials who reported receiving insults between July and October 2024 according to a poll conducted by Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative and governance non-profit CivicPulse.
-80%
The headcount reduction in engineers focused on trust and safety issues globally at X between October 2022 and May 2023. TechCrunch reported in September that X posted open roles for safety and security, but the platform remains a hotbed of misinformation, extremism, and alternate realities. With social media platforms serving as “the frontline of modern terrorism and counterterrorism,” chopping away at teams responsible for safeguarding that space, in the name of cost-cutting over public safety, will only continue to fuel online incitement to violence.
3%
Recent research into content shared on social media found that while only 3% of active accounts are toxic, they produce 33% of all content. Additionally, 0.1% of users shared 80% of fake news. This relatively contained number of accounts leaves no excuse for platform administrators to throw up their hands and say there’s nothing they can do about hateful and extremist content on their platforms.
183
In Fiscal Year 2023, the Pentagon investigated 183 instances of service member involvement in violent extremism. This comes from the Institute for Defense Analyses report, “Prohibited Extremist Activities in the U.S. Department of Defense” which you can read here. The IDA report found that military veterans do participate in extremist groups in excess of the general population–and their participation is growing.
Going Forward
These numbers paint a pretty stark picture of the current state of hate in the United States. There is no denying that extremism and the normalization of violence against one’s perceived enemies are on the rise. However, there is hope: change is possible. More people than ever are reaching out to us for help in leaving extremist groups and online hate spaces.
Those who have committed violent acts of extremism can learn from their misdeeds and can transform themselves into positive, productive members of our civil society. Such transformation is not easy–it is time-consuming and resource-intensive–but it can be done. It requires that we demonstrate the compassion necessary for individuals seeking a pathway out of violent extremism, helping them through a process of rehumanization and growth.
We have pioneered this work for the last 13 years. We help people leave a life of violence so that they can lead productive lives and we can all be a little safer. However, we are only able to help people because of the generosity of individuals like you. Change is possible if we work together, demonstrating compassion with accountability. Donate today.