(KFDX/KJTL) — The Texas Department of Public Safety announced Friday, October 1 the release of their annual crime report, a collaborative effort of more than 1,200 sheriffs and chiefs of police in Texas.
The 2020 Crime in Texas Report shows a decrease in total instances of crimes reported, but a marked increase in violent crimes, highlighted by a dramatic increase in instances of aggravated assault and murder as compared to 2019.
The 2020 Crime in Texas report begins with the 2020 Texas Crime Index, which is reported by both rate and volume.
The crime rate is the number of identifiable offenses per 100,000 population, a statistic that allows law enforcement agencies to compare crime rates between years without the impact of population change.
Where Does Your City Rank?
The 2020 Crime in Texas Report gave individual crime statistics for several cities and counties in Texas.
Based on the data for 41 cities with population sizes over 100,000, the crime rate for each city was calculated to determine how many crimes occurred per 100,000 population.
Using the crime rate statistic, these 40 cities were compared to one another to determine which city had the lowest overall crime rate.
The data for instances of violent crime were also used to calculate the violent crime rate for each city. The rates of crime are per 100,000 population.
Where does your city rank in terms of overall crime rate and violent crime rate? Find out below:
Overall Crime Rate Rankings
| Rank | City Name | Overall Crime Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allen | 1017.39 |
| 2 | Frisco | 1057.73 |
| 3 | McKinney | 1070.39 |
| 4 | Sugar Land | 1118.07 |
| 5 | Carrolton | 1351.02 |
| 6 | League City | 1464.92 |
| 7 | Pearland | 1524.05 |
| 8 | El Paso | 1557.45 |
| 9 | Laredo | 1762.61 |
| 10 | Plano | 1796.51 |
| 11 | Round Rock | 1804.60 |
| 12 | McAllen | 2015.65 |
| 13 | Lewisville | 2051.44 |
| 14 | College Station | 2073.14 |
| 15 | Richardson | 2076.66 |
| 16 | Grand Prairie | 2169.15 |
| 17 | Brownsville | 2250.76 |
| 18 | Midland | 2436.74 |
| 19 | Denton | 2449.35 |
| 20 | Abilene | 2543.10 |
| 21 | Edinburg | 2546.12 |
| 22 | Killeen | 2564.48 |
| 23 | Garland | 2804.69 |
| 24 | Irving | 2881.35 |
| 25 | Pasadena | 2901.18 |
| 26 | Arlington | 3078.47 |
| 27 | Odessa | 3301.98 |
| 28 | San Angelo | 3333.01 |
| 29 | Fort Worth | 3333.91 |
| 30 | Wichita Falls | 3333.91 |
| 31 | Tyler | 3483.48 |
| 32 | Mesquite | 3965.33 |
| 33 | Waco | 4062.61 |
| 34 | Austin | 4098.17 |
| 35 | Corpus Christi | 4101.50 |
| 36 | San Antonio | 4200.13 |
| 37 | Dallas | 4291.03 |
| 38 | Amarillo | 4515.32 |
| 39 | Beaumont | 4534.71 |
| 40 | Lubbock | 5366.09 |
| 41 | Houston | 5434.76 |
Violent Crime Rate Rankings
| Rank | City Name | Violent Crime Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sugar Land | 55.99 |
| 2 | McAllen | 85.05 |
| 3 | Frisco | 86.07 |
| 4 | Allen | 97.03 |
| 5 | Pearland | 99.12 |
| 6 | Carrolton | 112.88 |
| 7 | League City | 114.91 |
| 8 | Richardson | 127.22 |
| 9 | McKinney | 134.40 |
| 10 | Round Rock | 135.91 |
| 11 | Plano | 154.07 |
| 12 | College Station | 179.59 |
| 13 | Grand Prairie | 246.71 |
| 14 | Denton | 266.31 |
| 15 | Garland | 287.37 |
| 16 | Lewisville | 292.42 |
| 17 | Edinburg | 314.04 |
| 18 | El Paso | 316.07 |
| 19 | Irving | 320.20 |
| 20 | Laredo | 322.39 |
| 21 | San Angelo | 349.50 |
| 22 | Midland | 364.71 |
| 23 | Wichita Falls | 385.01 |
| 24 | Brownsville | 402.45 |
| 25 | Abilene | 408.67 |
| 26 | Tyler | 436.48 |
| 27 | Mesquite | 436.58 |
| 28 | Austin | 466.87 |
| 29 | Arlington | 530.42 |
| 30 | Fort Worth | 555.78 |
| 31 | Pasadena | 571.25 |
| 32 | Waco | 640.31 |
| 33 | Killeen | 666.38 |
| 34 | San Antonio | 715.11 |
| 35 | Odessa | 807.68 |
| 36 | Amarillo | 836.26 |
| 37 | Corpus Christi | 841.51 |
| 38 | Dallas | 844.74 |
| 39 | Lubbock | 1089.47 |
| 40 | Beaumont | 1226.38 |
| 41 | Houston | 1255.88 |
Crime Rate in 2020
According to the report, the overall crime rate decreased by 4% statewide, with 112.6 fewer crimes committed per 100,000 population in 2020 as compared to 2019.
Overall property crime also saw a decrease statewide of 5.9%, with 2,223.9 instances per 100,000 population in 2020 as compared to 2,363.7 per 100,000 population reported in 2019.
Violent crimes, however, saw an increase of 6.6% per 100,000 population, with a rate of 442.9 violent crimes per 100,000 reported in 2020 compared to a rate of 415.6 violent crimes per 100,000 in 2019.
| Offense | 2019 Rate | 2020 Rate | % Change | Rate Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murder | 4.8 | 6.6 | ↑ 35.6% | ↑ 1.8 |
| Rape | 50.5 | 45.4 | ↓ 10.2% | ↓ 5.1 |
| Robbery | 99.5 | 91.1 | ↓ 8.4% | ↓ 8.4 |
| Aggravated Assault | 260.7 | 299.8 | ↑ 15% | ↑ 39.1 |
| Burglary | 387.7 | 367.9 | ↓ 5.1% | ↓ 19.8 |
| Larceny – Theft | 1,711.5 | 1,571.6 | ↓ 8.2% | ↓ 139.9 |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 264.5 | 284.4 | ↑ 7.5% | ↑ 19.9 |
| TOTAL | 2,666.7 | 2,779.3 | ↓ 4% | ↓ 112.6 |
In terms of percentage, murder saw the sharpest increase, jumping 35.6% per 100,000 population, followed by aggravated assault, which jumped 15% per 100,000 population.
Crime Volume in 2020
The report then lists the total volume of crimes committed, which is the aggregate sum of the offenses across the state.
These numbers confirmed the trends shown by crime rate data, indicating a lower overall total of offenses, with a higher number of violent offenses committed.
Nearly 10,000 more violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) occurred in 2020 as compared to 2019, most notable by the amount of 524 more murders in 2020 as compared to 2019.
There were also over 12,000 more instances of aggravated assault in 2020 compared to 2019, as well as 6,817 more instances of motor vehicle theft.
Rape, robbery, burglary, and larceny all saw decreases of over 1,000 individual instances of the offense across the state.
| Offense | 2019 | 2020 | % Change | Real Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murder | 1,403 | 1,927 | ↑ 37.3% | ↑ 524 |
| Rape | 14,656 | 13,327 | ↓ 9.1% | ↓ 1,329 |
| Robbery | 28,854 | 26,750 | ↓ 7.3% | ↓ 2,104 |
| Aggravated Assault | 75,595 | 88,030 | ↑ 16.4% | ↑ 12,435 |
| Burglary | 112,405 | 108,015 | ↓ 3.9% | ↓ 4,390 |
| Larceny – Theft | 496,279 | 461,421 | ↓ 7% | ↓ 34,858 |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 76,687 | 83,504 | ↑ 8.9% | ↑ 6,817 |
| TOTAL | 805,879 | 782,974 | ↓ 2.8% | ↓ 22,905 |
Violent Crime Statistics
In 2020, violent crimes, meaning murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, increased by nearly 10,000 instances as compared to 2019.
In 2020, 16.6% of crimes committed were violent crimes, compared to property crimes, which accounted for 83.4% of the crime index.
Of the 130,034 violent crimes committed, 67.7% were aggravated assault, 20.6% were robbery, 10.2% were rape, and 1.5% were murder.
In addition to the increase in volume from 2019, 2020 proved to be the highest volume violent crime year in over a decade.
On college and university campuses in Texas in 2020, no murders were reported, 67 rapes were reported, 20 robberies were reported, and 61 aggravated assaults were reported.
