Washington ? The nation’s murder rate jumped 2 percent during the first six months of this year, with the biggest increases reported by small towns and in the Midwest, the FBI said Monday. The number of rapes, arsons and assaults fell during the same period.

After a dramatic 5.7 percent decline in the number of murders last year, the murder rate ticked upward 2.1 percent between January and June. Citing figures collected under its uniform crime reports, the FBI said cities with fewer than 10,000 people saw the largest increases in their murder rates.

Murder rates rose across the country, but the Midwest saw the highest increases with 4.9 percent. Kansas City, for example, reported 56 murders in the six months of this year but only 39 during the same time in 2004.

The FBI did not disclose its raw crime counts for all communities because it considers these six-month reports to be preliminary. But for all cities with more than 100,000 people, it reported 4,080 murders in 2005 and 3,979 in 2004.

The FBI said rapes nationwide fell nearly 5 percent, and arson crimes fell nearly 6 percent. Property crimes – which include burglary, larceny and vehicle thefts – declined overall 2.8 percent.

Assault fell just under 1 percent.

The FBI based its figures on crime reports from 10,374 police agencies around the country.