The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Bellmead, TX
Bellmead is a city of 11,000 in McLennan County, about 4 miles northeast of downtown Waco · Updated November 2026
Is Bellmead, TX safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Bellmead has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 75% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades B- and property crime B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Bellmead run from A to D+, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 624 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
25% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Bellmead as a whole, and 75% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Bellmead scores 624.
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 Bellmead, TX at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Bellmead, 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 Bellmead
Robbery stands out among B-graded cities. For the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 0.63 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; Bellmead has 1.3.
Thefts run high. Bellmead has thefts at about double the US rate: 23.9 a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Bellmead
Most of Bellmead grades well: 70% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 4% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Bellmead run from A to D+; 13% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
70%26%
A or B 70%C 26%D or F 4%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Bellmead, the northeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Bellmead?
Reported crime in Bellmead has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 49% and property crime down 45%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 9.2 to 4.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 58 to 32 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 50%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
BellmeadUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Bellmead. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Bellmead
Violent, US
Property, Bellmead
Property, US
2016
+59%
+4%
+23%
+15%
2017
+95%
+4%
+8%
+12%
2018
+19%
+0%
+5%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+1%
+4%
-20%
-8%
2021
-47%
+6%
-47%
-10%
2022
-56%
+5%
-50%
-6%
2023
-66%
+2%
-45%
-7%
2024
-50%
-4%
-45%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Bellmead
CrimeGrade™ estimates Bellmead has about 58 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 56% more than the US as a whole and 38% 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.
Theft makes up about 41% of crime reported in Bellmead. Assault is less common but 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.
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 Bellmead
Bellmead has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Bellmead, 44% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 36% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Stores and businesses (47%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (43%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (43%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (46%)
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 Bellmead compares with nearby cities
Of the 7 cities closest to Bellmead, 6 have less crime. Axtell and Elm Mott have the least.
One thing sets Bellmead apart: it has 3% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less robbery and car theft, yet robbery and car theft run higher here than that would suggest.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.14.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 85% of US city residents
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 Bellmead: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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. 82% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (17 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 51% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.3% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 81% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.32 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 68% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.0 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 62% 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 Bellmead
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Bellmead about $2,036 a year per household, 69% more than 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 $22 million a year, or $2,027 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.5 million
$131
Rape
$420,000
$38
Robbery
$440,000
$40
Assault
$2.1 million
$193
Burglary
$330,000
$30
Theft
$1.4 million
$123
Vehicle theft
$630,000
$57
Arson
$28,000
$3
Vandalism
$500,000
$45
Total
$7.3 million
$660
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 Bellmead 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 Bellmead, TX average a SchoolGrade of F: 25% of students test proficient, against 22% projected for schools like them. Overall, they underperform expectations. See schools in Bellmead on SchoolGrade
