(NewsNation) — New data from the FBI shows crime in almost every category was down in 2023, but according to a Gallup poll, 77% of Americans believe crime is actually up nationally.

University of Chicago criminologist John Roman joined “NewsNation Now” to discuss the discrepancy, saying Americans consistently perceive crime as going up.

“Gallup asks this question every year and every year since 9/11, when you ask people if crime is going up in the nearest city, they always say that it is, even though for most of the last 20 years, crime has been on a slightly downward trajectory in the United States,” Roman said.

According to the new FBI data, violent crime in 2023 fell 6% overall, with murder down 13%, rapes down 12% and robberies and aggravated assaults down 5%.

The greatest decline in nonviolent crime reports was for burglary, which was down 10%.

Roman says post-pandemic employment is one of the reasons crime is down, explaining that the U.S. saw a spike in crime when local governments lost thousands of employees at once.

“I think this is really a COVID story. And in particular, it’s a story about the effect of COVID on local governments. Local governments lost a million employees all at once in 2020. These are teachers, coaches, counselors, social workers, behavioral health specialists. These are everybody who worked with our young people. And they were suddenly removed from these young people’s lives. And we saw this tremendous spike in crime and violence,” Roman said.

Not all crime dropped in 2023, however. Motor vehicle theft was the major outlier, rising 11% from the previous year. Broken down by region, vehicle theft was up 38% in the Northeast, 24% in the South and 2% in the Midwest. The West was the only region to see a drop, with a 4% decline.

Despite this, Roman says the U.S. continues to get safer, saying, “If you’re under the age of 50, you’re probably living in an America that is safer than it ever has been.”