The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Dallas, TX
The Dallas metro area, the fourth-largest in the US, is home to 7.99 million residents; Dallas itself is the third-largest city in Texas · Updated November 2026
Is Dallas, TX safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, the Dallas area has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 62% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent and property crime both grade B+ here. The city of Dallas itself grades C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the Dallas area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 762 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
38% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the Dallas area as a whole, and 62% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Dallas area scores 762.
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 Dallas, TX at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Dallas area, 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 the Dallas area
Robberies run high in Cedar Crest & South Dallas Fair Park. In this part of south Dallas, they run at about triple the rate in the rest of Dallas.
Car thefts happen in parking lots and garages more often than nationally. In the Dallas area, 40% of reported car thefts happen in parking lots and garages, against 23% nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in the Dallas area
Low crime is the norm across the Dallas area: 78% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 12% in areas graded D or F. Grades across the Dallas area run from A+ to F; 48% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
78%10%12%
A or B 78%C 10%D or F 12%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Dallas
1Far North Dallas & North Dallas, northRobberies run at a small fraction of the rate in the rest of Dallas.B+749
2Preston Hollow, northwestAggravated assaults run at about half the rate in the rest of Dallas.B-577
Neighborhood areas of the city of Dallas, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Dallas metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the area, the Denton, Argyle, and Roanoke areas have the least crime and the Grand Prairie, DeSoto, and Waxahachie areas the most.
Is crime going up in the Dallas area?
Reported crime in the Dallas area has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 16% and property crime down 13%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.7 to 3.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 22 to 19 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Dallas areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Dallas area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Dallas area
Violent, US
Property, Dallas area
Property, US
2016
-2%
+4%
+12%
+15%
2017
+1%
+4%
+8%
+12%
2018
-4%
+0%
+2%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+6%
+4%
-2%
-8%
2021
+5%
+6%
-5%
-10%
2022
-3%
+5%
-1%
-6%
2023
-12%
+2%
-3%
-7%
2024
-16%
-4%
-13%
-15%
Crime rates and types in the Dallas area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Dallas area has about 36 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as the US as a whole and close to 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 37% of crime reported in the Dallas area. 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 the Dallas area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Dallas area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Dallas area, 48% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 44% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (48%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (44%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (47%)
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 the Dallas area compares with nearby metro areas
The Dallas area has less crime than 6 of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Dallas area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Dallas area is safer than 90% of them.
Night lighting, transit and empty homes in the Dallas area
The Dallas area looks like a typical metro area on the traits that tend to go with crime.
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.94% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 73% of Americans in metro areas
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Dallas area: D- (9 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 61% of Americans in metro areas
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.6.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 55% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.26% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 53% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Dallas area
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs the Dallas area about $1,288 a year per household, 7% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $3.56 billion 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 $11.33 billion a year, or $1,419 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$740 million
$93
Rape
$190 million
$24
Robbery
$144 million
$18
Assault
$1.02 billion
$127
Burglary
$176 million
$22
Theft
$542 million
$68
Vehicle theft
$501 million
$63
Arson
$11 million
$1
Vandalism
$237 million
$30
Total
$3.56 billion
$445
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 the Dallas area 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. These figures cover the whole Dallas metro area. 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
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 the Dallas area average a SchoolGrade of C+: 47% of students test proficient, against 37% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in the Dallas area on SchoolGrade
