Not So Wild West: Modern Bank Robbery By The Numbers

While bank robberies may seem like a vestige of the old Wild West, the modern American West experienced almost 12 bank robberies a week on average from 2019 through 2023. Nationwide, the FBI reports on average more than 18,000 bank robberies a year (2019-2023).

Based on the FBI’s most recent available bank crime statistics, there was an average of more than 150 bank robberies per month from 2019 to 2023 across the United States.

Over the last decade, robberies and burglaries targeting banks have maintained a consistent decline, but they are far from a crime relegated to the past.

There is significant geographic variation, regionally and state-by-state, for bank robberies. Four states — California, Colorado, Illinois, and Texas —  averaged 100 or more bank robberies a year 2019–2023. More bank robberies occur in the West than in other region of the country.

Analysis of bank robbery incidents demonstrates an increased likelihood of bank robberies on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays relative to other days of the week.

Similar analysis of which hours banks are most likely to be targeted does not highlight any periods as clearly but emphasizes that bank robberies occur chiefly during main business hours.

Bank robberies frequently target branch offices of banks more than main offices, or banks inset of other stores. Bank robberies occur about twice as often in Metropolitan community types as opposed to suburban areas or small cities. Bank robberies targeting rural areas were comparatively slight.

From 2019–2023, perpetrators of bank robberies used a written note to issue demands in about 58% of robberies and issued oral demands in about 35% of robberies. Some 14% of robberies featured the brandishing or use of a visible firearm, and violence occurs in about 3% of robberies. Hostages were taken in 0.35% of incidents.

From 2019–2023, bank robberies resulted in 80 injuries, primarily to bank employees and customers, and nine deaths, five of which were the death of a perpetrator.

Alarms systems, surveillance cameras, and bait money are among the most common security interventions used by banking institutions. From 2019–2023, 73% of bank robbery incidents saw the alarm system triggered, almost 90% were captured by surveillance cameras, and in 12% of robbery the bait money was taken. FBI reporting shows that in the observed years, law enforcement successfully identified an average of 52% of perpetrators involved in bank robbery incidents, of those identified about 1/3 are identified as users of narcotics and 1/3 are identified as people previously convicted in state or federal court of bank robbery, bank burglary, or bank larceny.

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