The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Potter County, TX
Potter County is home to 116,000 residents and includes Amarillo and Bishop Hills · Updated November 2026
Is Potter County, TX safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Potter County has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 75% 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 Potter County run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 634 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
25% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Potter County as a whole, and 75% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Potter County scores 634.
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 Potter County, TX at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Potter County, 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 Potter County
Reported rapes run high for a B-graded county. Potter County has 1.1 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US county, the figure is 0.41.
Aggravated assaults run high. Potter County has aggravated assaults at more than double the US rate: 6.8 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Potter County
Safety changes a lot from one part of Potter County to the next: 44% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 38% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across Potter County run from A+ to F; 21% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
44%18%38%
A or B 44%C 18%D or F 38%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Across the county, the northwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Potter County?
Reported violent crime in Potter County peaked in 2020 and has fallen 13% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 31% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 9.1 to 8.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 48 to 33 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 13%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Potter CountyUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across Potter County. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Potter County
Violent, US
Property, Potter County
Property, US
2016
-4%
+4%
+17%
+15%
2017
+2%
+4%
+9%
+12%
2018
+10%
+0%
+6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+13%
+4%
-7%
-8%
2021
+8%
+6%
-14%
-10%
2022
+10%
+5%
-9%
-6%
2023
+3%
+2%
-21%
-7%
2024
-2%
-4%
-31%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Potter County
CrimeGrade™ estimates Potter County has about 79 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about double the rate for the US as a whole and 89% 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Potter County is assault, about 43% of the total. It also makes up 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.
How Potter County compares with nearby counties
Potter County has the most crime of its 10 nearest counties.
Shops, empty homes and walkability in Potter County
Two things set Potter County apart: it has 13.6% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 67 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more burglary and arson, and they run high here.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.14.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 96% of Americans
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary and arson.13.6% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 95% of Americans
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. 75% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (20 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 63% of Americans
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.67 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 94% of Americans
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.10% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 63% of Americans
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.91% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 57% of Americans
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 Potter County
Crime costs Potter County about $2,739 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, more than double the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $117 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 $412 million a year, or $3,556 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$25 million
$219
Rape
$7.6 million
$65
Robbery
$4.5 million
$39
Assault
$45 million
$392
Burglary
$5.2 million
$45
Theft
$15 million
$126
Vehicle theft
$5.5 million
$48
Arson
$1.1 million
$10
Vandalism
$8.1 million
$70
Total
$117 million
$1,013
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 Potter County 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 Potter County, TX average a SchoolGrade of C+: 46% of students test proficient, against 34% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Potter County on SchoolGrade
