Texas is a huge, diversified state with a large variety of cities and villages. There is a wide range of opinions on issues like crime and livability among the more than 29 million people who call this place home. Here are the top 10 most hazardous cities in Texas in 2024, as you will see in the following text.
Houston
Houston is the riskiest city in Texas. The violent crime rate in Houston is 2.67 per 1,000 residents, while the property crime rate is 10.70 per 1,000 residents, out of a total population of 2.33 million. A total of 6,241 violent crimes, including 399 homicides, were documented in 2022. In 2022, there were 95,926 incidents of property crime. In Houston, Sunnyside, MacGregor, Sharptown, and Greenspoint are the four riskiest neighborhoods.
You have a 1:23 chance of becoming a victim of a property crime and a 1:78 risk of becoming a victim of a violent crime in Houston, the city with the highest crime rate in Texas.
San Antonio
Among the most dangerous cities in Texas, San Antonio ranks high as well. In 2022, there were 2,918 documented incidences of violent crime out of 1.59 million people living in San Antonio. The property crime rate is 10.83 occurrences per 1,000 people, while the violent crime rate is 1.83 occurrences per 1,000 people. With 151 slayings in 2016, San Antonio’s murder rate reached a level not seen in 20 years. The murder rate has been steadily rising and will reach 195 in 2022, the highest level in 30 years. The majority of homicides in San Antonio are drug-related or occur in the home, and gang activity is a major contributor to this violent crime rate.
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Lubbock
Lubbock, with a population of 327,424 and a violent crime rate of 2.23 per 1,000 persons, is another one of the worst cities in Texas when it comes to crime. Because of this, Lubbock is 121% riskier than the national average. The crime rate in Lubbock increased by 10% from 2021 to 2022. The murder rate increased by 182%, from 11 to 31, between 2019 and 2020. In 2022, there were 9.5 homicide events per 100,000 inhabitants, which is much higher than the national rate of 6.5 per 100,000. Lubbock may be one of the most dangerous cities in Texas, but it also happens to be one of the most affordable.
Beaumont
Not only that, Beaumont is among the riskiest cities in Texas. A total of 112,556 people call this city home. With 2.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents, Beaumont has a rate that is 93% greater than the U.S. average. The overall rate of violent crime in the Beaumont metro region is projected to rise by about 12% between 2019 and 2022. A backlog of cases caused by the pandemic has kept violent offenders out on the streets for longer than they would have otherwise, according to the district attorney for Jefferson County, Texas, which includes Port Arthur and Beaumont.
Dallas
Dallas is one of the biggest cities in Texas, with a population of 1,304,379 people. With 4,291 crimes per 100,000 residents, it’s 83% riskier than the U.S. average and one of the most hazardous cities in Texas. One in 113 people living in Dallas will be a victim of a violent crime. Among the 11,534 violent crimes recorded in 2020, 235 were homicides, 3,296 were robberies, and 7,428 were robberies. Gangs are commonly blamed for the high frequency of shootings in Dallas.
A few of Dallas’s most sketchy areas include Cedar Crest, South Dallas, the Convention Center District, and South Boulevard Park Row.
Mesquite
Among the most violent cities in Texas, Mesquite is no exception. There are 147,691 people living there, and the crime rate is 69% greater than the U.S. average. Of the 617 violent crimes recorded in 2020, 11 were homicides, 149 were robberies, and 390 were assaults. In 2020, there were 5,000 incidences of property crime, including 735 burglaries and 854 cases of vehicle theft. The most common types of property crimes, totaling 5,000 instances, were theft and burglary.
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Austin
Like many other Texas cities, Austin has a high crime rate. From 1,139 in 2021 to 1,282 in 2022, the overall number of violent offenses recorded in Austin is similarly on the rise. There is an 8.36/1000 person property crime rate and a 1.24/1000 person violent crime rate. Austin ranks 28th out of the 30 biggest cities in the US for violent crime per 100,000 population.
Corpus Christi
There were 686 reported crimes in Corpus Christi in 2021 and 619 the following year. At 1.88 per 1000 people, violent crime occurs, whereas property crime occurs at 7.52 per 1000 people. With 2,824 violent crime events in 2021, the victim’s likelihood of being a victim of a violent crime was 1 in 133, or 75% greater than the national average. In certain parts of Corpus Christi, the likelihood of becoming a victim of crime might reach 1 in 12 while in others it drops to 1 in 67.
Conclusion
We compiled our ranking of the 10 riskiest cities in Texas from a wide range of state and federal crime records, including the 2021–22 FBI Uniform Crime Report and a plethora of municipal and state databases covering the years 2022 and 2023. Our analysis used property and violent crime rates per 1,000 people, or per capita, to determine which cities in Texas were deemed the worst.
The mild winters, low cost of living, and delicious Tex-Mex cuisine are just a few of the numerous attractions of Texas. Though you should be aware of your surroundings before relocating, you may choose to rethink settling in one of the riskiest places in Texas. Although there is a high crime rate in many of these cities, it doesn’t make them all terrible. There are secure areas in nearly every Texas city, and major cities like San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, and Austin are cultural and economic centers.