The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Vernon, TX
Vernon is a city of 11,000 in Wilbarger County, about 50 miles west of Wichita Falls · Updated November 2026
Is Vernon, TX safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Vernon is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Vernon sits near the middle: 49% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 51% in neighborhoods with less. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Vernon run from A+ to C, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 835 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
49% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Vernon as a whole, and 51% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Vernon scores 835.
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 Vernon, TX at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Vernon, 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 Vernon
Reported rape stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.25 reported rapes a year per 1,000 residents; Vernon has 1.2.
The safest and least safe parts of Vernon
Most of Vernon grades well: 84% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Vernon run from A+ to C; 30% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
84%16%
A or B 84%C 16%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Vernon, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Vernon?
Reported crime in Vernon has held about steady since 2019: violent crime is down 7% and property crime up 5%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.8 to 4.4 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 19 to 20 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 55% and property crime rose 42%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
VernonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Vernon. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Vernon
Violent, US
Property, Vernon
Property, US
2016
+20%
+4%
+68%
+15%
2017
-23%
+4%
+75%
+12%
2018
-7%
+0%
+38%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-17%
+4%
-21%
-8%
2021
-16%
+6%
-26%
-10%
2022
-9%
+5%
-47%
-6%
2023
-40%
+2%
-26%
-7%
2024
-7%
-4%
+5%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Vernon
CrimeGrade™ estimates Vernon has about 49 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 32% more than the US as a whole and 17% 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 Vernon is assault, about 42% 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.
Where and when crime happens in Vernon
Vernon has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Vernon, 73% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 46% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (73%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (46%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (55%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (68%)
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 Vernon compares with nearby cities
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Vernon has more crime than 88% of them.
Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Empty homes, shops and walkability in Vernon
Two things set Vernon apart: it has 17.2% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 15.5 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, yet burglary runs lower here than that would suggest.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.17.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 98% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.15.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 89% 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. 80% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (17 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 53% 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.1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 88% 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 Vernon: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 72% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Vernon on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Vernon
Crime costs Vernon about $1,627 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 35% 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 $26 million a year, or $2,387 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.9 million
$168
Rape
$790,000
$71
Robbery
$210,000
$19
Assault
$2.3 million
$209
Burglary
$260,000
$24
Theft
$760,000
$69
Vehicle theft
$390,000
$35
Arson
$37,000
$3
Vandalism
$630,000
$57
Total
$7.2 million
$656
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 Vernon 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 Vernon, TX average a SchoolGrade of D: 37% of students test proficient, against 33% projected for schools like them. Overall, they underperform expectations. See schools in Vernon on SchoolGrade
