27 Profound Domestic Violence Statistics 

You never know what the person you pass in the grocery store, at the movies, at the office, and at your kid’s daycare is going home to — or who they’re going home to. 

We know that people experience domestic violence and intimate partner violence on a daily basis, but the real numbers are staggering. Millions of people are grappling with violence, abuse, and coercive behavior from the person they trust with their heart, but only a fraction of these millions actually ask for help. 

No gender, age group, or tax bracket is immune to domestic violence and intimate partner violence. But the data doesn’t lie: Some groups experience domestic violence at a disproportionately high rate. These statistics offer a closer look at who is experiencing IPV, how often it occurs, and the lasting impact it can have. 

1. Domestic Violence is Most Prevalent in Arkansas 

Domestic violence and intimate partner violence can happen anywhere, but it’s more common in some U.S. states than others… or, at least, it’s more likely to be reported. Generally speaking,  the highest reported instances of domestic violence against women occur in Arkansas (48.1%)¹. 

Arkansas’ neighbor, Missouri, has the second-highest reported instances of domestic violence against women at 47.3%. Of course, DV is not strictly a southern phenomenon; 47.1% of female respondents in Alaska said they’ve experienced domestic violence, the third highest stat. 

2. The Highest Reported Domestic Violence Rate Against Men is Also in Arkansas 

Men can be just as vulnerable to domestic violence as women, and at a higher rate in some states than others. Like for women, the highest reported instances of domestic violence against men — 29.7%, to be exact — also occur in Arkansas.

But the states that take the #2 and #3 spots differ for male respondents. Instead of staying in the southern U.S., they move westward: The second-highest reported instances of domestic violence against men occur in Oklahoma (25.5%), and the third-highest is in Wyoming (25.2%). 

As disturbing as these statistics are, it’s likely that they’re even higher than reported due to vast underreporting among both men and women.  

3. DV Programs Helped Over 80,000 People in One Day

Have you ever wondered how many people stuck in domestic violence situations actually ask for help? In September 2025, 85% of 2,002 domestic violence-related assistance programs reported serving a total of 84,146 survivors in a single day². 

Those 84,146 survivors give us a rough idea of just how many people seek help for domestic violence in the U.S. This number only accounts for a single day and only for those who actively sought help — meaning there are far more people still trapped in DV situations. 

4. Over 50,000 People Sought Refuge From DV in 24 Hours 

In just one day, 53,590 adults and children specifically requested alternative housing because of domestic violence in the U.S. Having not only a roof, but a discreet roof over one’s head is clearly vital to establishing safety for DV survivors.

In fact, 71% of the domestic violence-related services provided during this 24-hour period were related to emergency relocation. 

These programs helped survivors relocate to emergency shelters, transitional housing, hotels, and motels. This throws the realities of emergency relocation into sharp relief. With thousands of people seeking safe shelter every day, it’s no wonder some programs are stretched thin. 

5. Nearly Half of Those Helped In Those 24 Hours Sought Legal Support 

The physical dangers of DV are apparent, but we tend to underestimate the legal and logistical complexities that arise when you seek help. It’s these complications that make people reluctant to leave violent environments. 

It’s no wonder 30,566 adults and children received non-residential support in the form of court accompaniment, transportation, bilingual support, and mental health care.

With thousands upon thousands of people seeking legal, residential, and mental health support every day because of DV, it’s clear that domestic violence can take an entire village — sometimes literally — to overcome. 

6. Over 13,000 Requests for Help Were Unmet 

Domestic violence-related assistance programs are able to help an astonishing number of people, but some aren’t so lucky: 13,018 requests for help went unmet in one 24-hour period due to limited resources at some programs. That’s thousands of people who were forced to spend another day in a dangerous environment. 

It’s not that these organizations failed the people they serve, but that available funding does not meet people’s growing needs. More than 58% of unmet requests revolved around housing, highlighting just how important emergency relocation is to keeping people safe long-term. 

Logistical and legal needs are vital, but a safe place to rest your head is as basic as basic gets. It’s clear that accessible emergency housing is a priority for DV programs. 

7. Between 2020 and 2024, 31% of Aggravated Assaults Were Domestic in Nature 

In 2026, 31% of reported aggravated assaults throughout a four-year period were domestic in nature³, meaning they happened within the home, and were perpetrated by the people we trust the most. 

In fact, aggravated assault was the violent crime most commonly involving victims and offenders who were family members, partners, or otherwise in a domestic relationship. 

8. DV Offenders Are Overwhelmingly Male (77.1%) 

If you were to hear a rumor that someone was a victim of DV, you might assume the woman is the victim and the male the offender. And most of the time, you’d be right: 74.5% of the victims are women, and 77.1% of the offenders are male.  

But this doesn’t mean that the roles are never reversed. Women can certainly become the aggressors, and men the victims, in a DV scenario. It’s worth noting, however, that stats regarding gender non-conforming victims vs. perpetrators were much harder to come by. 

9. IPV is 2-3x More Common Among Low-Income Adults 

Money is a universal stressor. And being overworked, underpaid, and chronically in fear of displacement can turn a stressful situation into a catalyst for bad behavior. Case in point: Intimate partner violence is 2-3x more common among low-income adults⁴. 

Economic hardships, including food and shelter insecurity, lead to increased physical, sexual, and intimate partner violence.

Studies show that economic hardships, including food and shelter insecurity, lead to increased physical, sexual, and intimate partner violence. After all, when you have no choice but to depend on someone for financial security, as well as for basic needs like food and shelter, escape becomes much more difficult. 

So even though money can’t prevent DV and IPV, it can help pave a safe, discreet path for escape. 

10. 1 in 25 Adults Experiencing IPV and other Violent Crimes Have Considered Suicide 

The correlation between DV and poor mental health is clear to see: Victims of IPV and other violent crimes are more likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as suicidality. 

Anyone’s mental health would suffer as a result of domestic violence, but women tend to live with the long-term side effects. They are “significantly more likely than men” to experience some level of depression and anxiety as a result of violence, while both genders experience “comparable levels” of suicidality. 

Specifically speaking, 25% of respondents reported experiencing mild depression and anxiety, 9% reported moderate depression/anxiety, and 5% reported severe depression/anxiety. 

11. Over 60% of Surveyed Women Experienced Some Form of Physical Violence From Their Spouse 

In 2025, 61% of surveyed women said that they’ve experienced some form of physical violence from a spouse or romantic partner in the last year. That’s 6 in 10 US women — six out of every ten women you pass on the street. This sobering statistic puts the sheer commonality of violence against women into perspective. 

Comparatively, men are much less likely to report experiencing physical violence from a spouse or romantic partner: Only 25% — still too high a number, but not nearly as high as 61% — say as much. Both men and women may struggle with unearned shame, but men are generally more likely to keep abuse a secret if it means avoiding embarrassment. 

12. Home was the Setting for 64% of Men’s Sexual Violence Experiences

Anyone is vulnerable behind closed doors — even men. More than half (64%) of surveyed men said that the sexual violence they suffered in the last year most often happened at home, compared to 43% of women. 

This isn’t to say that men are more likely to experience sexual violence at home than women, but that men who have experienced sexual violence say it happened to them most often in the home, compared to outside the home. 

Women, meanwhile, most often report sexual violence occuring in public spaces (55%) compared to 38% of men. 

13. Approximately 18 Million Women Experienced IPV Before Turning 18 

There’s no such thing as being “too young” to experience domestic and/or intimate partner violence. 13% of US-based women — that’s nearly 18 million — have experienced IPV before reaching adulthood.

Although women are far more likely to report having experienced IPV as a young person, an alarming number of men also experience violence at the hands of their loved one(s): 7% to be exact, which accounts for nearly 10 million men. 

14. About 1 in 5 US Adults Witnessed IPV In Their Childhood Home 

Domestic violence was the backdrop to too many people’s childhoods. Nineteen percent of U.S. adults say they witnessed intimate partner violence against their mother during childhood. Broken down by gender, 22% of women and 17% of men witnessed their mother’s abuse. And this kind of trauma is not easy to shake. 

There’s a clear correlation between people who witnessed IPV in childhood and those who went on to experience it themselves as adults.

There’s a clear correlation between people who witnessed IPV in childhood and those who went on to experience it themselves as adults: About 69% of those who witnessed it went on to experience IPV, compared with 50% of those who did not directly witness IPV. 

15. 1% of Men Said They’ve Engaged in Some Form of IPV

Although this number is undoubtedly higher than we think, at least 1 in 100 U.S. men self-reported that they’d perpetrated physical and/or sexual IPV in the past year. Only 0.1% of women admitted as such, compared to 1% of men. It’s striking how so few men and women are willing to identify their behavior as a form of violence. 

We talk a lot about the stigma surrounding DV and IPV, and how it can make it difficult for survivors to report their abusers. The perpetrators tend to go underdiscussed, however. It’s obvious why this is: We can’t hold people accountable if they don’t recognize their own actions as DV. 

16. 5% of IPV Survivors Also Perpetrated It 

It’s not always easy to predict how long-term domestic violence will affect one’s own tendency toward violence. Surveys, however, reveal a startling pattern: 5% of those who experienced IPV in the past year also perpetrated it, compared to 1% of those who had not experienced IPV in the past year. 

Importantly, this data merely suggests an overlap between people who experienced IPV and those who go on to perpetrate IPV. This in no way predicts or claims that victims of DV and IPV will always become abusers. 

17. More Than 4 in 5 Gender Non-Conforming US Adults Have Experienced Lifetime IPV 

For all the research that goes into domestic violence, a startlingly small number of studies cover how DV occurs in non-heterosexual and/or non-cis households. As it turns out, gender non-conforming adults are generally at much higher risk of intimate partner violence than cisgender respondents. 

Specifically, 84% of gender non-conforming U.S. adults have experienced some form of lifetime IPV — a disturbingly high number. And 22% of gender non-conforming U.S. adults have experienced IPV at some point in the past year. 

Also disturbing is the nearly 17% of reported past-year IPV perpetration among gender non-conforming respondents. 

18. LGBTQ+ People Are Seemingly More Likely To Report IPV 

There’s a stark disparity in IPV rates between people in LGBTQ+ and heterosexual relationships: The survey found that 10% of respondents in this group have experienced IPV in the past year, compared to 4% of heterosexual respondents. 

Are LGBTQ+ respondents simply more likely than other demographics to report abuse to the authorities? Maybe, maybe not. More interesting is the suggestion that people in LGBTQ+ relationships are more likely to experience violence at the hands of their partner than non-LGBTQ+ couples. 

19. More Than 1 in 3 Women Have Experienced IPV in Their Lifetimes 

As of 2024, approximately 34% of women — that’s 43.5 million — have experienced some form of violence from an intimate partner during their lifetime⁵. For some respondents, this behavior either began as, or escalated to, their intimate partner stalking them (12.2%). 

Let’s break the definition of “violence” down into two categories: “sexual” and “physical.” Women reported experiencing sexual violence such as rape (8.6%), unwanted sexual contact (8.6%), and sexual coercion (14.2%). Women also reported experiencing general physical violence (22.5%), such as being slapped, pushed, or shoved (20.5%). 

20. More Than 1 in 6 Men Have Experienced Some Form of IPV

We don’t always think of men as being vulnerable to IPV violence, but this isn’t exactly true. Although women are more likely to experience IPV, men are not immune to the same abuse. 

Approximately 17%, or 20.7 million, male respondents said they’ve experienced some form of IPV in their lifetime. 

Men also are not immune to sexual and physical violence at the hands of their partners. About 4.4% of male respondents have experienced some form of sexual violence, including forced penetration (0.8%) and sexual coercion (2.9%). Meanwhile, 13.7% say they’ve been the victim of physical violence. 

21. The Rape Rate for Men Was Not “Statistically Stable” 

Interestingly, this particular survey could not approximate how many U.S. men are victims of rape because the estimate was not “statistically stable.”

How to account for this discrepancy? A small sample size or a small number of respondents only tells half of the story. We may not have an exact statistic to list here, but this blank space still speaks volumes. 

Like women, men can be just as vulnerable inside their own homes as they are in a dark alleyway. It’s possible that some men are still uncomfortable identifying themselves as rape victims. It’s also possible that some men don’t realize that what they experienced was actually rape at all. 

Being victimized inside one’s own home can be a uniquely traumatizing experience, one that some people, regardless of gender, may not be able to come to terms with, let alone report. 

Yes, this statistically unstable topic could be chalked up to men not experiencing rape as often as women. But it’s worth considering whether some men simply don’t have the tools or resources to recognize what happened to them. 

22. Over 30% of Women Have Experienced Psychological Abuse 

Around 30.2% of women (approximately 38.6 million) have experienced psychological aggression from an intimate partner. Abuse doesn’t always mean black eyes and bruises; psychological abuse can leave behind very similar scars, including PTSD symptoms, a need for medical care, and missed work. 

20.4% of female respondents have been on the receiving end of expressive aggression, and 27.2% have experienced some form of coercive control or entrapment from their partner. Again, men are not immune to psychological control; 22.3% of surveyed men, or about 27.3 million, say they’ve also experienced psychological aggression. 

23. 18.6% of Women Said A Partner Has Demanded To Know Their Whereabouts  

Domestic violence refers to abuse that happens inside the home, but DV can’t be contained by walls. The emotional control that begins within the home can extend far outside it when your partner obsessively tracks you and demands to know where you are, who you’re with, and what you’re doing at all times. 

This behavior could be perceived as passion, but those who experience it up close know it’s more like obsession — and to a dangerous degree. The 18.6% of women who say they’ve been tracked in this manner can attest to this. A smaller-but-significant number of men (13.9%) have experienced the same kind of psychological abuse. 

24. 16% of Women Say Their Partner Has Isolated Them From Loved Ones 

Domestic violence thrives in the dark, which is why abusers often try to isolate their victims from the people who care about them. Case in point: 16% of surveyed women said their partner has tried to keep them from seeing, talking, and communicating in any way with their friends and family. 

This type of isolation is a common abuse tactic, and although it generally happens more to women, 10.6% of the surveyed men reported experiencing the same behavior from their partner. 

25. Almost 9% of Women Said Their Partner Has Attempted Financial Control 

Approximately 8.8% of women and 4.8% of men say they’ve had a partner attempt to make them financially dependent. By exerting financial control, abusers aren’t only trying to keep their victims in their circle, but to make them feel completely disconnected from helpful resources. 

Financial control can be just as terrifying as physical and emotional control, especially when you’re already being isolated from your friends and family. And in today’s day and age, it’s hard to imagine escaping DV or IPV without having at least some control over the money in your pocket — and whether you have money in your pocket at all. 

26. There Were Over 1 Million DV Victimizations in 1 Year

In 2024, there were 782, 900 reported IPV victimizations and 1,110,040 domestic violence victimizations in one year⁶. This doesn’t even account for the unreported instances of DV and IPV, which would undoubtedly make these numbers even higher. 

It’s important to note that many studies define domestic violence as a violent act committed by an intimate partner or another family member, which is why I included the IPV stats as well. Both acts of violence are most likely to happen in the home and are perpetrated by the people we trust the most. 

27. More Than Half of DV Experiences Were Reported to Authorities 

Approximately 61% of respondents who experienced IPV and 64% of respondents who experienced DV reported the abuse to the police. If we look at the glass as half full, this means that people are more likely to report their abuse than not — a clear sign that the stigma and fear surrounding DV and IPV are fading, right? 

Well, not exactly. “More than half” is great, but it’s not even close to 100%, meaning there are still people trapped in violent and controlling relationships who, for whatever reason, don’t feel safe enough to ask for help. 

The Impacts of DV Can Last Long After the Abuse

I struggle to use the word “victim” when referring to survivors of DV and IPV, because to focus on someone’s victimization is to ignore a much more powerful part of their story — their resilience and their strength in overcoming stigma once and for all. And yet, my thoughts keep returning to the people who stay. 

The fear they must feel, the anger, the doubt, the worry; the unknowns that cloud their days. Every time someone escapes from DV or IPV, someone else sinks further into it. We know how constant fear and violence can change the way someone lives, and we know that far more people are living this way than we like to admit. 

Less understood, however, is how the effects of fear and violence can extend across generations of a family. Research increasingly shows how generational trauma, including trauma from DV and IPV, can shape family relationships long after the abuse occurs.

As researchers continue to study these effects, each new finding adds to our understanding of how deeply DV and IPV can affect individuals, relationships, and families — today, and for generations to come.

Sources 

1. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/domestic-violence-by-state  
2. https://nnedv.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/20th-Annual-DV-Counts-Report-Full-Report-FINAL.pdf  
3. https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/resources/reports/Domestic%20Relationships%20and%20Violent%20Crimes%202020-2024.pdf 
4. https://newcomb.tulane.edu/sites/default/files/2026-09/USVEX-FinalReport.pdf
5. https://www.cdc.gov/nisvs/media/pdfs/intimatepartnerviolence-brief.pdf 
6. https://bjs.ojp.gov/document/domesticviolence_2024.pdf?