2025 FBI Hate Crime Data Reveals Threats to Asian American Communities
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WASHINGTON – Preliminary hate crime data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for 2025 shows a decline in overall reported incidents nationwide, but the data reflects persistent and concerning threats against Asian Americans, faith communities, Latinos, and those perceived to be immigrants. These preliminary toplines identify ongoing risks, sharp increases targeting specific communities despite widespread underreporting driven by fear, language barriers, and inconsistent law enforcement reporting.
Advancing Justice – AAJC released a detailed analysis of the preliminary 2025 FBI hate crime data which shows how chronic underreporting, data gaps, and inconsistent law enforcement participation obscure the true scope of hate‑motivated harm nationwide.
- Anti‑Asian hate crimes remain alarmingly elevated, more than double the pre‑pandemic annual average from 2013-18 (133 incidents per year) with 318 hate crimes recorded in 2025—approximately 2.4 times higher—even as reported incidents declined 16% from 379 in 2024.
- Anti‑Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) hate crimes declined to 20 single-bias incidents, a 31% decrease from 29 in 2024.
You can access the analysis here.
Sim J. Singh Attariwala, director of the anti‑hate program at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, said: “The FBI’s topline data pulls back the curtain of the lived reality for many Asian American communities who continue to face targeted violence, harassment, and intimidation, because of their perceived race, nationality, or religion. Anti‑Asian hate remains significantly elevated compared to pre‑pandemic levels, and sharp increases in targeting of our religious identities and South Asian communities show that hate is shifting. We need meaningful improvements in reporting, accountability, and community‑based protections, including holding ICE impersonators accountable with hate crime charges to shed light and address targeted hate against immigrant communities.”
Anti-Sikh, anti-Hindu, and anti-Buddhist hate crimes all spiked to their highest levels ever recorded by the FBI.
- Anti‑Muslim hate crimes decreased slightly to 199 single-bias incidents, a 13% decrease from 228 in 2024.
- Anti‑Sikh hate crimes surged to 226 single-bias incidents, marking a 59% increase from 142 in 2024.
- Anti‑Hindu hate crimes increased to 28 single-bias incidents, a 12% rise from 25 in 2024.
- Anti‑Buddhist hate crimes rose to 32 incidents, a 23% increase from 26 in 2024.
Harman Singh, executive director of The Sikh Coalition, said: “We are alarmed by reports of a significant increase in anti-Sikh hate, and it is critical to better understand where these increases are being reported and how widespread the surge might be. Regardless, Sikhs clearly remain disproportionately at risk of targeted violence and discrimination. The political climate in our country—from policies targeting non-domiciled truck drivers to xenophobia driven by international affairs to the ugly rhetoric about immigrants more broadly—is creating a deeply dangerous environment for our and other communities. Moreover, we cannot ignore hateful online rhetoric stoked by foreign governments and their proxies as another factor exacerbating hate against Sikhs specifically. All told, wherever this rise in hate crimes and bias incidents is manifesting, it is almost certainly being driven by multiple factors.”
Ria Chakrabarty, senior policy director at Hindus for Human Rights, said: “The rise in anti-Hindu hate crimes is deeply concerning, and no one should face violence, harassment, or intimidation because of their faith or identity. But hate never targets only one community. Hindu Americans are part of the broader Asian American story, and these attacks are unfolding alongside threats to Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, immigrants, and other communities facing a wider climate of xenophobia, religious bigotry, and supremacist politics. As Hindus, we believe we need accountability, better reporting, and solidarity across communities to confront hate in all its forms.”
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