Balcones Heights is a city of 2,730 in Bexar County, about 6 miles northwest of downtown San Antonio · Updated November 2026
Is Balcones Heights, TX safe?
Balcones Heights is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of D+, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 89% of Americans live. Violent crime grades B- and property crime F.
D+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 246 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
11% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Balcones Heights as a whole, and 89% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Balcones Heights scores 246.
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 Balcones Heights, TX at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Balcones Heights, 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 Balcones Heights
Vandalism stands out among D-graded cities. For the typical resident of a D-graded US city, the figure is 8.1 acts of vandalism a year per 1,000 residents; Balcones Heights has 33.8.
Robberies and car thefts both run high. In Balcones Heights, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 18.1 robberies and 22.7 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 and 2.7 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Balcones Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates Balcones Heights has about 222 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than triple the rate for the US as a whole and more than triple the rate for 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.
Theft is the most common crime in Balcones Heights, about 44% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does more harm.
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.
The Balcones Heights Police Department's 2024 count of robbery fell far below its usual level, a sign of a reporting gap, so CrimeGrade™ used its own estimate instead.
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 Balcones Heights
Balcones Heights has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Balcones Heights, 41% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 88% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (78%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (88%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (55%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (48%)
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 Balcones Heights compares with nearby cities
Balcones Heights has the most crime of its 9 nearest cities.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Balcones Heights. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Balcones Heights has more crime than 97% of them.
Two things set Balcones Heights apart: it has 57.4 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 98 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more theft and robbery than places with only one of them, and they run high here.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.57.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 99% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.98 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 96% 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.B- (53 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Show all 6
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Balcones Heights: C+ (43 of 100).28 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 94% 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.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% 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.50% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 83% 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 Balcones Heights
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Balcones Heights about $5,563 a year per household, more than triple the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $20 million a year, or $7,281 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$750,000
$275
Rape
$260,000
$96
Robbery
$1.5 million
$565
Assault
$1.7 million
$606
Burglary
$160,000
$59
Theft
$1.4 million
$507
Vehicle theft
$950,000
$348
Arson
$21,000
$8
Vandalism
$660,000
$240
Total
$7.4 million
$2,702
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 Balcones Heights 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 Balcones Heights, TX average a SchoolGrade of F: 33% of students test proficient, against 20% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Balcones Heights on SchoolGrade
