Willowbrook is a neighborhood of 12,900 residents in Houston, about 17 miles northwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Willowbrook in Houston safe?
Crime in Willowbrook is high by national standards, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of C+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 82% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Willowbrook. Violent crime grades B and property crime D. Houston as a whole grades C-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Willowbrook run from B+ to D, so check the map below.
C+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 508 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
18% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Willowbrook as a whole, and 82% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Willowbrook scores 508.
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 Willowbrook, Houston, TX at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Willowbrook in Houston, 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 Willowbrook
Car thefts and thefts both run high. In Willowbrook, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 16.1 car thefts and 69.1 thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 13.1 nationally.
Thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages far more often than nationally. In Houston as a whole, 55% of reported thefts from cars happen in parking lots and garages, against 31% nationally.
How Willowbrook compares within Houston
Crime varies widely across Willowbrook: 55% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 34% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Willowbrook run from B+ to D; every part of Willowbrook has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
55%11%34%
A or B 55%C 11%D or F 34%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Willowbrook has less crime than 40 of the 63 neighborhoods in Houston. It covers much of the Near Northwest and Greater Inwood areas.
Is crime going up in Houston?
Reported violent crime in Houston as a whole peaked in 2020 and has fallen 14% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 5% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults stayed at about 11 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 44 to 42 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
HoustonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Houston. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Houston
Violent, US
Property, Houston
Property, US
2016
-6%
+4%
-1%
+15%
2017
+1%
+4%
-5%
+12%
2018
-5%
+0%
-8%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+18%
+4%
-3%
-8%
2021
+14%
+6%
-4%
-10%
2022
+4%
+5%
+3%
-6%
2023
-1%
+2%
+1%
-7%
2024
+1%
-4%
-6%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Willowbrook
CrimeGrade™ estimates Willowbrook has about 143 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than triple the rate for the US as a whole and about double the rate for Houston as a whole.
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 Willowbrook is theft, about 48% 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 Houston
The Houston Police Department polices Willowbrook; these figures cover Houston as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Houston as a whole, 53% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (53%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (55%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (43%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (54%)
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 Willowbrook compares with nearby neighborhoods
Of the 10 neighborhoods closest to Willowbrook, 6 have less crime. Rock Creek and Longwood have the least.
Shops, parking lots and walkability in Willowbrook
Two things set Willowbrook apart: it has 42.3 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 4.2 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places with both tend to report more theft and car theft 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 and car theft.42.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 98% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.4.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 97% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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. 67% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (24 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 67% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.100 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 88% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Willowbrook
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Willowbrook about $4,173 a year per household, about 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 $42 million a year, or $3,234 per resident.
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 Willowbrook 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. Willowbrook is a good example: many people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks worse than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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
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 Willowbrook, Houston, TX average a SchoolGrade of C+: 44% of students test proficient, against 32% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Willowbrook on SchoolGrade
