2020 to 2025 · 764,110 victims · Martin Ngoh
In all nine cities, Black women's reported assault rate is higher than Hispanic and White women's. Against White women the gap runs from 1.8 times in El Paso to 10.2 times in DC, and it holds at the most conservative bound in every city. It is widest for aggravated assault in all nine.
Per 100,000 residents a year, Black women's rate runs from 2,036 in El Paso to 4,205 in DC. Against Hispanic women it is 1.6 to 3.2 times, and the most conservative bound stays above 1 in every city but Baltimore, where ethnicity is unknown for 41.6% of women victims.
Where neighborhood could be controlled (Los Angeles, Baltimore and Dallas for non-family assaults only), 2.1 to 3.1 times remains against Hispanic and White women. The gap is not concentrated in partner assault: in six of eight cities with relationship data, it is smaller within partner assault than outside it.
Between the first and second half of each city's window, the gap with Hispanic women narrowed in eight of nine cities and held in Houston; the gap with White women changed by between -1% and +6%.
What this number measures: police reports, not how often women are hurt. In the national victimization survey, which counts assaults whether or not police learned of them, Black and White women describe being assaulted at about the same rate nationally and about 1.5 to 2 times in large cities. A follow-up (github.com/mngoh/Police-Records-vs-Survey-Assault-Victims-by-Race-and-Sex-2015-2025) tested why police records differ more: not reporting rates, not how police write up a call (or only a little), not the same women counted repeatedly, but largely where assaults happen and who calls. Hospital emergency departments, which do not depend on a call to police, see a gap like the police one (about 4.6 times for women in 2021 to 2022), which points to the survey undercounting assaults on Black women.
Women only (168,969 Black women, 246,504 other women). Each cut asks whether a plain explanation accounts for the gap.
Police data holds only what was reported. If Black women report assaults more or less often than other women, every ratio here moves, and this data cannot say which way.
Each city links to its own analysis. The lowest bound assumes every multiracial Black resident is recorded as Black and the least favorable reading of missing ethnicity.
| City | Source, years | Black women, per 100,000 | vs Hispanic | vs White | vs Asian | Lowest bound vs Hispanic | Lowest bound vs White |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | LAPD records (pre-NIBRS), 2020 to 2023 | 3,544 | 2.86x | 5.7x | 18.36x | 2.31x | 4.6x |
| DC | FBI NIBRS, 2022 to 2025 | 4,205 | 3.22x | 10.21x | 10.13x | 2.22x | 9.38x |
| Baltimore | BPD legacy records, 2022 to 2024 | 3,605 | 1.62x | 2.58x | 5.62x | 0.82x | 2.46x |
| Dallas | FBI NIBRS, 2022 to 2025 | 3,798 | 2.26x | 3.91x | 13.52x | 2.11x | 3.64x |
| Houston | FBI NIBRS, 2022 to 2025 | 4,193 | 2.43x | 3.76x | 8.08x | 2.23x | 3.44x |
| San Antonio | FBI NIBRS, 2022 to 2025 | 3,872 | 1.84x | 2.22x | 11.09x | 1.43x | 1.73x |
| Austin | FBI NIBRS, 2022 to 2025 | 4,197 | 2.07x | 4.86x | 18.91x | 1.66x | 3.89x |
| Fort Worth | FBI NIBRS, 2022 to 2025 | 2,675 | 2.19x | 3.06x | 12.16x | 1.95x | 2.72x |
| El Paso | FBI NIBRS, 2022 to 2025 | 2,036 | 1.67x | 1.83x | 4.69x | 1.18x | 1.29x |
Only Los Angeles, Baltimore and Dallas have victim locations. The FBI's files for DC, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso record none.
Tract poverty, income, jobs and housing are shaped by segregation and disinvestment. Where these controls narrow a gap, the gap has been located in where women live; it has not been explained away.
The data says Black women are assaulted at a higher reported rate in each of these cities. It does not say why. Nothing here measures causes, offenders or circumstances.
Every number is a report that reached the police. Willingness to report, and recording practice, differ by group, area, city and time.
Rates count reports. Someone assaulted twice counts twice, so a rate is not the share of people assaulted.
Rates divide by where people live, not where they spend time.
Police data reflects where officers patrol and who calls them. This data cannot separate more policing or more reporting from more assaults.
Los Angeles uses LAPD's records from before its move to NIBRS (2020 to 2023). Baltimore uses the Baltimore Police Department's legacy records (2022 to 2024). DC, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso use the FBI's NIBRS files. Offense definitions are close but not identical, so compare patterns across cities, not levels.
Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso ran on the FBI's files alone, with the decisions made for Dallas. Each has all 48 months of data, and race is unknown or outside the compared groups for 0.1% to 2.6% of women victims. There is no location test, no second source and no city-specific check like Dallas's.
Race is recorded by officers; the Census counts people who are Black alone. Across these cities, 5% to 42% more residents are Black alone or in combination. The lowest bounds assume every one of them is recorded as Black.
Unknown or unspecified ethnicity runs from 0.7% of women victims in El Paso to 41.6% in Baltimore. Where it is high the Hispanic comparison is uncertain, and in Baltimore it cannot be settled. Los Angeles records Hispanic as a descent code, not a separate field.
Each city counts its own police department only. Assaults recorded only by transit, school, campus, hospital or county police are missing.
El Paso's figures rest on 840 Black women victims and about 10,000 Black women residents. Asian women's counts are small in most cities, as few as 89 in El Paso, so their ratios stay out of the headline.
Los Angeles covers 2020 to 2023 and Baltimore covers 2022 to 2024; the rest cover 2022 to 2025. Populations are ACS 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates.
Nine large cities, six of them in Texas, chosen because their data was available. They show a consistent pattern in police data; they do not measure a national rate or a trend.
Rates are women victims of aggravated and simple assault per 100,000 residents of the same group per year. Each city's numbers come from its own analysis, built with disparity-kit; this page reads them through scripts/compare.py. Sources: FBI National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) files; Los Angeles Police Department and Baltimore Police Department records; US Census Bureau ACS five-year estimates via Census Reporter.