The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Amarillo, TX
Amarillo is a city of 232,700 in Randall County and the main city of the Amarillo metro area, home to 271,900 · Updated November 2026
Is Amarillo, TX safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Amarillo has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 71% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B+ against B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Amarillo run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 677 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
29% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Amarillo as a whole, and 71% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Amarillo scores 677.
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 crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime 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 Amarillo, TX at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Amarillo, 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 in Amarillo
Thefts from cars happen at stores and businesses far more often than nationally. In Amarillo, 31% of reported thefts from cars happen at stores and businesses, against 10% nationally.
Reported rapes and simple assaults both run high. In Amarillo, each runs at about double the US rate: 0.74 reported rapes and 18.9 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.38 and 9.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Amarillo
In Amarillo, 66% of residents live in areas graded A or B, 15% in areas graded C and 19% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Amarillo run from A+ to F; 27% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
66%15%19%
A or B 66%C 15%D or F 19%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Amarillo, the southeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Amarillo?
Reported violent crime in Amarillo peaked in 2020 and has fallen 18% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 33% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 7.4 to 6.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 39 to 26 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 14%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
AmarilloUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police agencies that serve Amarillo. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Amarillo
Violent, US
Property, Amarillo
Property, US
2016
-3%
+4%
+21%
+15%
2017
+4%
+4%
+12%
+12%
2018
+11%
+0%
+8%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+14%
+4%
-7%
-8%
2021
+5%
+6%
-15%
-10%
2022
+5%
+5%
-12%
-6%
2023
-2%
+2%
-22%
-7%
2024
-7%
-4%
-33%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Amarillo
CrimeGrade™ estimates Amarillo has about 57 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 52% more than the US as a whole and 35% more than Texas.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Simple assault is the most common crime in Amarillo, about 33% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. 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 crime happens in Amarillo
Amarillo has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Amarillo, 60% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (60%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (49%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (38%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (51%)
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.
How Amarillo compares with nearby cities
Amarillo has the most crime of its 2 nearest cities.
Empty homes, parking lots and walkability in Amarillo
One thing sets Amarillo apart: it has 10.3% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, and they run high here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.10.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 87% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 75% 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 and assault. 78% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (19 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 56% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.11.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 68% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.10% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 61% 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.92% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 58% of US city residents
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 crime costs Amarillo
Crime costs Amarillo about $1,832 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 52% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $161 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $544 million a year, or $2,336 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$31 million
$133
Rape
$10 million
$45
Robbery
$5.5 million
$24
Aggravated assault
$31 million
$134
Simple assault
$32 million
$138
Burglary
$7.2 million
$31
Theft
$22 million
$93
Vehicle theft
$9.0 million
$39
Arson
$1.4 million
$6
Vandalism
$12 million
$50
Total
$161 million
$692
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Amarillo means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
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.
Schools in Amarillo, TX average a SchoolGrade of B: 50% of students test proficient, against 38% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Amarillo on SchoolGrade
