• The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $8.3 billion per year in the United States.
• Survivors of intimate partner violence lose a total of 8.0 million days of paid work each year.
• Between 21-60% of survivors of intimate partner violence lose their jobs due to reasons stemming from the abuse.
• Up to 50 percent of survivors of intimate partner violence who are employed are harassed at work by their abusive partners.
• Between 2003 and 2008, 142 women were murdered in their workplace by their abuser; 78% of women killed in the workplace during this timeframe.

*Sources Center for Disease Control 2003, U.S. Gen. Accounting Office

Marin County Cost Estimate:

In 2018, the Marin County District Attorney received 809 domestic violence reports from police in Marin. This translates to costs in Marin of nearly $22 million.  (Based on cost-benefit analysis of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994: a nonfatal domestic violence assault costs $27,362 per U.S. female victim.  This includes emergency response, court and probation, medical expenses, property damage or loss, and the cost incurred from lost work productivity. It does not include the costs of services for children or secondary victims.)

This is a conservative estimate since actual costs are unquestionably higher, because only 1 in 4 cases of domestic violence is officially reported.  According to the National Violence Against Women Survey (1995/96), only 25% of all physical assaults are reported, and 75% are not.

If we apply the 25% reporting rate, this would mean there were approximately 3,236 incidents of domestic violence in Marin County in one year.  Using this approximated actual number of domestic violence incidents in Marin, the costs could be as high as $88.5 million.

For Children Who Witness Domestic Violence:

A study found that children’s exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) carry long lasting consequences for the affected children, including a wide range of behaviors and outcomes, including use of social services, health and healthcare utilization, educational outcomes, workforce productivity, and criminal behavior. The average lifetime costs derived from childhood exposure are estimated to be over $50,000 per victim (2016 U.S. dollars) due to increased healthcare costs ($11,000), increased crime costs ($14,000), and productivity losses ($26,000). Over an annual birth cohort of young adults, these costs amount to over $55 billion nationwide.