Detectives on the scene at 29th and Clearfield Streets where a man was shot and killed on December 7, 2023. Read more Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer

by Ellie Rushing and Dylan Purcell Published Oct. 17, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET

Just four years ago, Philadelphia saw the most homicides in its history — and police solved them at the lowest rate on record.

Now, those trends have flipped.

The city is now on pace for the fewest killings in half a century , and detectives are solving murders at the highest rate in recent memory.

The homicide clearance rate this year has hovered between 86 and 90% — the highest since 1984, when the department recorded a 95% clearance rate.

The change is a welcome improvement from the challenges of 2015 to 2022, when the rate of solved homicides

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