This report presents statistics from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and examines victimization rates across the 22 most populous U.S. states and how reported and unreported crime levels vary across these states and over time. During 2020–22: the 22 most populous states represented 79% of the U.S. population age 12 or older and 77% of the violent victimizations captured by the NCVS. The rate of burglary victimization was higher than the U.S. rate in one state (Minnesota) and lower in eight states. From the period of 2017–19 to 2020–22: the rate of violent victimization declined in three states and nationwide. The rate of property victimization declined in nine states and the United States overall and increased in one state (New York). During 2020–22, 5 of the 22 most populous states had a higher violent crime rate than the U.S. rate (18.8 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older). Five states had a lower violent crime rate than the national rate, this included Florida at 12.9 per 1,000. Florida (67.0 per 1,000) was also one of twelve states had property crime rates that were lower than the U.S. rate. However, the percentage of violent and property victimizations reported to police declined in nationwide but more so in Florida than other states.

This report, the 19th in a series produced by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, details the number of applications for background checks for firearm transfers and permits received by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and state and local checking agencies. It also describes the types of permits or checks used by each state, the number of denials issued by these agencies, and the reasons for denial. The FBI and state and local checking agencies received about 22.4 million applications for firearm transfers and permits in 2021, a 10% decrease from 25.0 million in 2020. About 371,000 (1.7%) applications for firearm transfers and permits were denied in 2021. From 1994, when the Brady Act became effective, to 2021, over 314.1 million applications were subject to background checks and about 4.8 million (1.5%) applications were denied. The FBI received more than 11.1 million applications in 2021 and denied about 154,000 (1.4%), while state and local checking agencies received more than 11.3 million applications and denied about 217,000 (1.9%).

Surveys find that roughly 5% of youth in the United States ages 12 to 17 – more than a million young people – carry a firearm each year. This high rate of gun possession is not new. Despite a significant uptick in gun sales during the pandemic, the share of U.S. youth who carry guns has held steady in recent years. A disproportionate and growing share of these cases involve Black youth, even though rates at which youth carry guns do not vary widely by race. Justice system responses for youth referred to court on weapons possession charges have grown increasingly punitive over the past decade, especially for black youth. The high rate of gun possession among youth is troubling, because adolescents’ immaturity can lead to impulsive behavior and poor decision making. Also, higher rates of gun possession are associated with more gun violence in communities. Given these realities, it may seem like common sense to aggressively prosecute and punish youth who carry firearms. However, a careful look at the evidence points in the opposite direction. Unlike gun possession, which is widespread in all areas of the country, actual gun violence is highly concentrated geographically, and it is committed primarily by a very narrow segment of the youth and young adult population. Most youth who carry weapons do not use them to threaten others or to commit crimes. The most promising approaches to reduce gun violence involve comprehensive initiatives in which courts work with community partners to address the reasons why youth and young adults obtain guns, and whole communities mobilize to engage and intervene with youth and young adults who are at maximum risk for gun violence.

Arguing that community colleges are more crucial than ever for upward mobility and workforce development in their communities, this book presents practical strategies with case studies for ensuring that programs and support services enable students to achieve educational and career success. Drawing on a decade of research on whole-college guided pathways reforms at more than 100 community colleges nationally, the authors illustrate how colleges have implemented large-scale changes to help students better navigate the journey to completing a credential. They argue, however, that to achieve better and more equitable outcomes—and to recruit and retain more students in a highly competitive market—colleges must not only remove barriers to completion but also strengthen pathways to student goals after graduation, thus making their investment of money, time, and effort worth it. The five frontiers the book focuses on are, first, working with employers and four-year institutions to ensure that all programs lead to living-wage, career-path jobs or seamless transfer with no excess credits in students’ major fields of interest. Second, helping students develop the communication, problem-solving, and quantitative skills as well as the technological know-how needed to thrive in a fast-changing workplace and society. Third, redesigning recruitment and onboarding to help students explore, choose, plan, and gain momentum in a program of study. Fourth, enabling busy students with many competing demands to complete their programs in as little time and cost as possible. Finally, rethinking dual enrollment as a more effective on-ramp to debt-free, career-connected education and training after high school.

Older learners are a diverse, driven and underserved population of current and potential students for U.S. universities. They can bring a wealth of experience, motivation and focus to a campus community, if policies foster access and inclusion through flexibility, awareness and financial support. Giving proper credit for previous experiences—whether at another institution, through employment or from personal experiences—can save older learners time and money. It can also help them feel recognized and a valued part of the community. Whether they are returning to postsecondary education or coming for the first time, proactive and intentional support services can help older students balance their busy lives and cope with unexpected crises. But support should be holistic and coordinated between administrative teams, including financial aid, counselling, careers and academic advising. A renewed focus on older learners could open up a new pool of students and offset an ongoing drop in recent high-school graduates. And a renewed focus on truly serving and supporting older learners could help institutions become better for all students. Cost is a significant obstacle for older learners, who face competing professional and personal responsibilities. Institutional policies need to make higher education more affordable, such as by expanding access to financial aid for older learners. Colleges can go beyond simply offering workforce-specific programs to transforming foundational courses to make them more relevant to students’ career goals. Qualifying experiences could be based on databases of alternative credentials and certificates, faculty evaluation of learning portfolios, or a combination of the two.

This study uses nationally representative data from 2005 and 2023 to examine changes in young adults’ (ages 25-34 years old) experiences reaching five milestones of adulthood: living away from their parents, completing their education, labor force participation, marrying, and living with a child. Changes are considered for individual milestones, as well as for combinations of milestones. The types and combinations of milestones young adults experience have seen major shifts in the past several decades, with growth in the shares experiencing economic markers, and reductions in those who experience family formation events. Multi-level models and decomposition analyses reveal that changes in the association between certain characteristics – such as being male and living in metropolitan areas – and achieving markers of adulthood appear to contribute most to the overall declines in the share of young adults who experience all milestones. Findings from the current study shed light on changing pathways to adulthood.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided different types of financial assistance to improve drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in Fiscal Years 2014 through 2023. Specifically, 14 of the agencies’ programs provided $35 billion in grants (at least 22,000 projects) and $29 billion in direct loans (about 4,800 projects) during this period. The agencies took steps to reduce barriers to financial assistance faced by vulnerable communities—those likely to face challenges preparing for and recovering from disasters, such as rural and low-income areas. In this report, GAO used the term “vulnerable communities” to refer to communities defined in some programs’ authorizing statutes that may receive additional assistance under these programs. Agencies provided technical assistance and allowed grantees to use assistance from other federal programs to meet requirements to provide matching funds, known as nonfederal cost share. However, FEMA has not adequately communicated about the option to use assistance from USDA programs to meet cost-share requirements in certain cases. EPA, FEMA, and USDA used national or state measures to assess the extent to which vulnerable communities benefitted from certain programs. However, EPA, FEMA, and USDA officials said that limited data about the geographical areas served by drinking water and wastewater utilities made it difficult to accurately assess who benefited from their programs. EPA created a mapping tool with the geographical service areas of drinking water systems, which may differ from municipal boundaries. EPA plans to complete a similar tool for wastewater service areas in summer 2025. Using EPA’s mapping tools could enable EPA, FEMA, and USDA to more accurately identify the communities, including vulnerable communities, their programs are benefiting.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including disruptions to employment and public health challenges, created instability for many low-income households and made it difficult for these households to continue paying their rent. In 2020 and 2021, Congress appropriated nearly $50 billion for two rounds of Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) programs to provide rental assistance to support housing stability for renter households with incomes less than 80% of the area median income. The U.S. Treasury Department distributed the funding to state and local government grantees to implement these programs in partnership with community-based organizations and housing providers. ERA programs ultimately provided more than 3 million renters with money for rent, utilities, and other housing-related expenses. This enormous scale, along with ERA program design and implementation features, offers lessons for future direct assistance programs for renters and for other types of assistance programs. To distribute the ERA funding, grantees needed to rapidly identify an implementation approach, hire staff, and set up systems with application and processing capabilities. Some ERA programs took longer than others to build capacity and distribute funding, but the research team found that the programs were intentional about reaching renters with the most need for assistance. More than 80% of those who received emergency assistance had incomes below 50% of the area median income where they lived. This report is designed to highlight and memorialize the lessons learned from the implementation process for future emergency relief programs. These lessons included limiting program requirements that are unrelated to payments such as rent freezes and eviction moratoriums, and coordinating timelines for housing provider and renter clarity.

Ultra-processed foods tend to be hyperpalatable, energy-dense, low in dietary fiber, and contain little or no whole foods, while having high amounts of salt, sweeteners, and unhealthy fats. Ultra-processed food consumption has been associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. This report presents estimates about ultra-processed foods during August 2021–August 2023 by top caloric contributors and mean percentage of total calories from ultra-processed foods by sex, age, family income, and 10-year trends. Key findings include that during this time period the mean percentage of total calories consumed from ultra-processed foods among those age 1 year and older was 55.0%. Youth ages 1–18 years consumed a higher percentage of calories from ultra-processed foods (61.9%) than adults age 19 and older (53.0%). Among adults, the mean percentage of total calories consumed from ultra-processed foods was lowest in the highest family income group. Sandwiches (including burgers), sweet bakery products, savory snacks, and sweetened beverages were four of the top five sources of calories from ultra-processed foods among youth and adults. Between 2013–2014 and August 2021–August 2023, the consumption of mean calories from ultra-processed foods among adults decreased.

Subclinical mental health problems—distress and functional impairment that fall short of a clinical diagnosis—affect millions of U.S. adults, yet are rarely addressed in research or policy. Using 2022–2023 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, this brief finds that nearly 30% of Medicaid enrollees with unmet demand for mental health treatment have subclinical needs, compared with 23% of those with Medicare or other public coverage and 16% of privately insured adults. These Medicaid enrollees are disproportionately young—over half are younger than 26—but report high rates of poor health and substance use disorder. Among insured adults with subclinical mental health needs and unmet demand for treatment, barriers to care are widespread. Two-thirds of adults with subclinical needs said they preferred to manage problems on their own or feared being forced into care. Medicaid enrollees in this group were more likely than their privately insured counterparts to report cost barriers, difficulty finding a provider, and a lack of available appointments. To close access gaps, policies can expand affordable, person-centered care options that align with people’s preferences and symptom severity—especially for younger adults with Medicaid.