Based on data collected by the FBI, the violent crime rate in Maine is the lowest it has been since at least 1979. The state remains the safest in the country, with crime rates well below the national average. Data from FBI reports and its Crime Data Explorer site

While Gallup polls show that three-quarters of Americans think crime is on the rise, FBI statistics released Monday show the truth is just the opposite.

Violent crime, including murders and rapes, is down nationally.

Maine continues to be the safest state in the country by a wide margin, the statistics released Monday show.

Reported violent crime rates for Maine in 2022 were the lowest they’ve been since at least 1979, according to the FBI’s data.

The violent crime rate per capita in Maine last year was 103.3 incidents per 100,000 people, down from a 1979 high of 202 incidents.

One area that didn’t follow the trend in the Pine Tree State was murder.

Maine’s 2022 murder rate, 2.2 per 100,000 residents, was the highest it’s been since 2008. The highest murder rate for Maine came in 1989, when it reached 3.19 murders per 100,000 people.

Rapes, robberies and aggravated assault were all down in Maine from 2021 levels.

An October 2022 Gallup poll found that 78% of Americans thought local crime was getting worse in their community. But most states saw less crime in 2022 than they did in 2021, the FBI data shows.

The FBI statistics are based on data reported by local police departments. Not every department reports the information, but Maine does better than most states in sending in the data, according to a Maine Monitor story last month.

The FBI said Monday it used more than 11 million reported incidents to compile its crime snapshot for 2022.

Using the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program’s Crime Data Explorer site, it is possible to break down the statistics for each offense by state and by local police data.