Oak Lawn is a neighborhood of 61,900 residents in Dallas, about 2 miles north of downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Oak Lawn?
Violent crime is high in Oak Lawn: a B+, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 73% of Americans live. Assaults make up 89% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Dallas as a whole grades C for violent crime.
B+
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 714 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
27% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Oak Lawn as a whole, and 73% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Oak Lawn scores 714.
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 Oak Lawn, Dallas, TX at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Oak Lawn in Dallas, 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 Oak Lawn
Robberies run high. Oak Lawn has robberies at more than double the US rate: 1.4 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
How Oak Lawn compares within Dallas
Low violent crime is the norm across Oak Lawn: 81% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 6% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across Oak Lawn run from A+ to D-.
81%13%
A or B 81%C 13%D or F 6%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Oak Lawn has less violent crime than 17 of the 24 neighborhoods in Dallas. It covers much of the Oak Lawn and M Streets areas.
Is violent crime going up in Dallas?
Reported violent crime in Dallas as a whole has fallen 26% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 8.8 to 6.6 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
DallasUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Dallas. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Dallas
Violent, US
2016
-14%
+4%
2017
-13%
+4%
2018
-13%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+6%
+4%
2021
-2%
+6%
2022
-11%
+5%
2023
-23%
+2%
2024
-26%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Oak Lawn
CrimeGrade™ estimates Oak Lawn has about 16 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 17% more than the US as a whole and 25% less than Dallas as a whole.
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 Oak Lawn, about 89% of the total.
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 Dallas
The Dallas Police Department polices Oak Lawn; these figures cover Dallas as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Dallas as a whole, 33% 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 (33%)
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 Oak Lawn and nearby neighborhoods
Oak Lawn has less violent crime than 6 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set Oak Lawn apart: it has 2.7 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally, and 117 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. It also combines many jobs with busy transit: places with both tend to report more robbery than places with only one of them, and it runs high here.
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.2.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 94% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.117 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 91% 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 assault. 57% of residents here live in walkable areas.B+ (68 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 76% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Oak Lawn: C (33 of 100).20 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 71% 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 violent crime costs Oak Lawn
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Oak Lawn about $94 million a year, or $1,521 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $21 million, or $339 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
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. 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.
