The article examines the assumptions of one estimate of the cost of 1979 congressional legislation in the area of crime victim compensation. The estimated cost of $500 million was based on (1) the number of violent crime victims (1.7 million), including people who did not report crime to the police and those who bore no cost due to victimization, (2) the estimate of victims who will receive awards (5.8 percent), a figure that is four times higher than the average percentage reported in New Jersey, New York, and Maryland; and (3) the mean compensation award of $4,000; this figure is based on Maryland's victim compensation program, which has one of the highest mean award payments in the country. However, figures on actual costs of 31 individual State programs are available. They show that 18 of the 31 jurisdictions rely solely on general revenue as a source of funding. The other 13 jurisdictions use a variety of sources in addition to general revenues; fine surcharges, traffic fines, and court cost surcharges, for victim compensation funds. A table of the cost of crime victim compensation programs by State and a list of sources of funding by State are included.