In 2020, more than 24,500 deaths in the United States were the result of homicide.  The seven-state Great Plains region accounted for 1,460 homicide deaths, or about 5.9% of the total number of U.S. homicide deaths in 2020.  At 6.8 deaths per 100,000 population, the homicide rate in the Great Plains region was about 9% lower than the national homicide rate.  Missouri was the only state in the region that recorded a 2020 homicide rate that was higher than the national average.  A deeper review of state-level data from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics provides the following details about homicide rates in the Great Plains region:

Homicide Rates in the Great Plains Region

State	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
IA	106	3,163,561	3.4
KS	195	2,913,805	6.7
MN	198	5,657,342	3.5
MO	803	6,151,548	13.1
NE	76	1,937,552	3.9
ND	30	765,309	3.9
SD	52	892,717	5.8
Region	1,460	21,481,834	6.8
U.S.	24,576	329,484,123	7.5

(*) number of homicide deaths per 100,000 population

Report Period: 2020

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2020 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2021. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2020, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on April 30, 2022