A question worth exploring

Why do some states have much higher recorded violent-crime rates than others?

This presentation uses the classic USArrests dataset included with R. It contains arrest statistics for 50 U.S. states, measured per 100,000 residents, alongside the percentage of the population living in urban areas.

Created: November 4, 2026

Meet the data

• Murder, Assault, Rape: arrests per 100,000 residents.
• UrbanPop: percentage of the population living in urban areas.
• Each point in the chart represents one state.

Important: Arrest rates are not the same thing as the true incidence of crime. These historical data describe recorded arrests, not every crime committed.

The interactive view

Hover over a point to identify the state and inspect its values. Zoom, pan, and use the legend to explore the pattern.

What stands out?

There is a clear positive association: states with higher assault-arrest rates often also have higher murder-arrest rates.

But the points do not fall on a perfect line. That variation matters: a relationship between two variables does not mean one causes the other.

Try hovering over points at the far right and comparing them with points near the left side.

Three takeaways

1. Look beyond one number. The chart displays two crime measures at once, while color and size add urbanization and rape-arrest rates.
2. Association is not causation. This plot cannot explain why states differ.
3. Context matters. Arrest statistics can reflect reporting, policing, laws, and other factors—not only underlying crime.

Thanks for exploring!

The best data stories invite more questions than they answer.

Next question: What changes when we compare states over time rather than taking a single snapshot?

Data source: USArrests, a dataset distributed with base R. Visualization created with Plotly in R.