Texas’s 50 Safest Cities of 2023

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the ninth annual Safest Cities report.

See if your city made the full list.

Texans’ concern about safety jumped 6% (to 66%) in our most recent State of Safety survey. Not only is that a bump from the previous year—it’s also 16 percentage points higher than the national average. 

But those who call one of Texas’s 50 safest cities home may be less concerned due to significantly lower rates of crime than the rest of the state.

Even though Texas’s crime rates are higher than national averages, The Lone Star State boasts the second-to-lowest crime rates in the West South Central region. Texas is below Arkansas, which has the highest violent crime rate in the region at 7.1 incidents per 1,000 people. Texas has 4.6 incidents per 1,000 residents.

And Texas has the fewest property crimes in the region, as well, beating out Louisiana, which has the highest property crime rate in the region at 26.7 incidents per 1,000. Texas sits at 21.9.

That said, the state saw a slight uptick in violent crime this year, rising from 4.5 to 4.6 incidents per 1,000 people. On the flip side, the property crime rate fell from 22.5 to 21.9 incidents per 1,000 people.

Concern about violent crime is 12 percentage points higher in Texas than the previous survey year. That jump in concern reflects a rising violent crime rate statewide. Texans expressed the fourth-highest overall concern about gun violence in the nation.

• The Lone Star State is the 11th highest on our list for violent crimes.
• 45% of survey participants use some form of personal protection—higher than the national average of 39%.
• Pepper spray is the second-most common form of personal protection used in Texas, with 36% of respondents saying they use it.
• 57% say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic (US 44%), and 66% worry about the pandemic every day (US 58%).

• 65% said they worry about gun violence (US 47%).
• 16% reported having experience with gun violence (US 12%). That's up 80% from the year before.
• Texas saw 50 mass shooting incidents, which is down slightly from 57 the year before.
• The Lone Star State is ranked 11th in states with the most mass shootings.
• Mass shootings decreased by 12% year over year.
• Firearms come in second as a preferred method of property protection, and concealed carry firearms are the first-most used self-defense item. 

Texans are 21% more concerned about property crime than most Americans. Higher concern may be what’s motivating Texans to invest in property protection measures more than other Americans. Plus, more security measures may be a contributor to falling property crime rates statewide. 

• Texas is ranked 13th in states with the highest property crime rates.
• 61% of Texans are worried that property crime will happen to them (US 50%).
• 59% of Texans are concerned about package theft (US 53%). 
• Larceny theft is the biggest form of property crime in Texas, with 11,750 larceny thefts reported in the safest cities.
• 43% of Texas survey participants use security cameras as property protection (US 38%), making it the most popular form of protection. Firearms and security systems came in second.
• 35% say the security of their property has been affected by the pandemic (US 28%).

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• 293 cities met criteria to be considered for ranking.
• Trophy Club and Fulshear held on to the top 2 spots for the third consecutive year. 
• 2 new cities joined the top 20 list this year: Bellaire (#6) and Lago Vista (#16).
• The top 13 safest cities reported zero murders.
• Lumberton jumped a whopping 45 spots to land them at #7.
• All of the cities that made the top 50 reported fewer than 2 violent crimes per 1,000 people. 
• All of the safest cities reported fewer than 13 property crimes per 1,000.
• Fair Oaks Ranch and Melissa were the only cities that reported no murders, rapes, and robberies. 

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population as calculated using FBI data. To request a report of the remaining cities in your state email info@safewise.com with the subject line: Safest Cities Full Report.

NOTE: If your city is missing from our full report, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2021.

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• The State of Safety in America in 2022

FBI Crime Data Explorer, "Documents & Downloads." Accessed February 6, 2023.

• 2021 and 2020 Crime in the United States Annual Reports
  • Offenses Known to Law Enforcement
• 2021 NIBRS Estimation Tables

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, "Offenses Known to Law Enforcement [2019]." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Bureau of Justice Statistics, "National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

SafeWise, "2022 State of Safety survey." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "General Methodology." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Past Summary Ledgers." Accessed January 3, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Congress."

• 2022 totals: Accessed January 3, 2023.
• 2021 and 2020 totals: Accessed December 19, 2022.