Bank Robberies See Dramatic Decline Over Past Few Decades

The United States produced more than 1 billion tons of coal in 2003, but by 2023 that figure had fallen to under 600 million tons. Blockbuster had more than 9,000 stores at its peak in 2004, but there is just one last store remaining today. And in 1992 there were 9,540 bank robberies reported to the FBI (this includes all violations of the Federal Bank Robbery and Incidental Crimes Statute). By 2023, however, the FBI reported just 1,362 bank robberies per its annual bank crime report released late last year, crime analyst Jeff Asher writes on his Substack Jeff-alytics. reports. That's the lowest number of bank robberies reported to the FBI since before 1990 and highlights a continuing trend of falling bank robberies for most of the last 15 years. Bank robberies have held the fascination of the American public for more than a century. Yet bank robberies are becoming less and less frequent as time marches on. The FBI has bank crime reports for every year from 2003 to 2023 available online and aggregated counts for 1990 to 2001 in a report from 2002. These reports point to an 83 percent decline in bank robberies nationally over the last 20 years, far exceeding the 50 percent decline in all types of robberies reported to the FBI over that span.

The decline in bank robberies has meant far fewer deaths (usually the perpetrator getting killed), injuries, and hostages taken during such traumatic events. Indeed, 2023 was the first year on record with zero deaths resulting from bank robberies that were reported to the FBI. In 2003, by contrast, there were 21 deaths in bank robberies. Bank robberies may have become less profitable starting around 2008. Bank robberies averaged about $9,600 stolen per incident from 2003 to 2008 but that total dropped to around $7,500 stolen from 2009 to 2013. It’s certainly possible that other factors such as improvements in surveillance technology and money tracking are contributing to declining bank robberies. Still, rising internet sales seems like the most obvious explanation for such a sharp decline in the last 20 years. Whatever the cause, fewer bank robberies means fewer traumatic experiences, less money stolen, and fewer deaths.