Athens is a city of 19,400 in Henderson County, about 35 miles west of downtown Tyler · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in Athens?
Athens earns an A for property crime, safer than the neighborhoods where 62% of Americans live. Theft makes up 49% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades A, and vehicle theft grades A.
A
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 877 of 1,000Less property crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
62% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than Athens as a whole, and 38% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Athens scores 877.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more property crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its property crime with the homes, parked cars and people there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Athens, TX at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Athens, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out about property crime in Athens
Vehicle theft stands out among cities graded A for property crime. For the typical resident of a US city graded A for property crime, the figure is 0.91 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; Athens has 3.8.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in Athens
Every part of Athens where people live grades A or B for property crime on the national scale. Property crime grades across Athens run from A+ to B+.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Is property crime going up in Athens?
Reported property crime in Athens has fallen 36% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 22 to 14 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 32%.
Property crime, change since 2019
AthensUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Athens. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Athens
Property, US
2016
+50%
+15%
2017
+21%
+12%
2018
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-20%
-8%
2021
-34%
-10%
2022
-22%
-6%
2023
-6%
-7%
2024
-36%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in Athens
CrimeGrade™ estimates Athens has about 19 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 18% less than the US as a whole and 28% less than Texas.
All property crime
Burglary
Vehicle theft
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Property crime here includes vandalism, which the FBI's property crime rate leaves out.
Theft is the most common property crime in Athens, about 49% of the total, followed by vehicle theft and vandalism.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a property crime with what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for vehicle theft, people and parking for theft, homes and businesses for vandalism. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when property crime happens in Athens
Athens has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Athens, 52% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Car thefts happen most often at homes: 36% of them, against 33% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (52%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Homes (36%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (54%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times; they are over one in five for theft from cars.
Property crime in Athens and nearby cities
Of the 5 cities closest to Athens, 4 have less property crime. New York and Baxter have the least.
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, two set Athens apart: it has 18.9 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 11.8% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft, yet theft runs lower here than that would suggest.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.18.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 96% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.11.8% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft. 88% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (11 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 73% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 90% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more car theft.1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 88% of US city residents
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.55% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 85% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Athens on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What property crime costs Athens
Property crime costs Athens about $3.0 million a year, or $157 per resident and about $423 per household: the value of what is stolen or damaged, plus the police, courts and prisons that respond.
Cost of property crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering add little to the cost of property crime, so this is close to its full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Burglary
$490,000
$25
Theft
$950,000
$49
Vehicle theft
$1.1 million
$58
Arson
$21,000
$1
Vandalism
$440,000
$23
Total
$3.0 million
$157
How CrimeGrade™ works
The property crime CrimeGrade™ covers burglary, theft, car theft, arson and vandalism, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each property crime against what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for car theft, and the people and parking around stores for theft.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
