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
How common is violent crime in the Dallas area?
Violent crime in the Dallas area runs higher than in most US neighborhoods: a B+, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 68% of Americans live. Assaults make up 92% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. The city of Dallas itself grades C for violent crime.
B+
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 762 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
32% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than the Dallas area as a whole, and 68% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, 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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid 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 about violent crime 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.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in the Dallas area
Low violent crime is the norm across the Dallas area: 82% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 10% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across the Dallas area run from A+ to F.
82%10%
A or B 82%C 8%D or F 10%
Share of residents, by the violent crime 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.A-832
2Preston Hollow, northwestAggravated assaults run at about half the rate in the rest of Dallas.B644
Neighborhood areas of the city of Dallas, ranked by violent crime 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 violent crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Is violent crime going up in the Dallas area?
Reported violent crime in the Dallas area has fallen 16% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.7 to 3.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent 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
2016
-2%
+4%
2017
+1%
+4%
2018
-4%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+6%
+4%
2021
+5%
+6%
2022
-3%
+5%
2023
-12%
+2%
2024
-16%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in the Dallas area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Dallas area has about 12 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 9% less than the US as a whole and 20% less than Texas.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in the Dallas area, about 92% of the total. Murder and rape are far rarer, but they account for 44% of the cost of violent crime here.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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 violent 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, 47% of aggravated assaults happen at a home, against 53% nationally. Robberies happen most often at stores and businesses: 39% of them.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
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.
Violent crime in the Dallas area and nearby metro areas
The Dallas area has less violent crime than 6 of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Dallas area. Beside each violent crime 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 80% of them.
The Dallas area looks like a typical metro area on the traits that tend to go with violent crime.
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
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.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 violent crime costs the Dallas area
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs the Dallas area about $9.84 billion a year, or $1,232 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $2.09 billion, or $262 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 79% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$740 million
$93
Rape
$190 million
$24
Robbery
$144 million
$18
Assault
$1.02 billion
$127
Total
$2.09 billion
$262
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
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.
