Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024
Does Arlington have one of the top 10 worst violent crime rates among Texas’ largest cities?
Arlington’s violent crime rate, the number of violent crimes per 1,000 people, is 5.78. This is the seventh highest among Texas’ 17 cities with populations over 200,000, according to 2022 data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The statewide violent crime rate is 4.32.
Chances of being a violent crime victim in Arlington are one in 173, compared to the Texas average of one in 232. Most crimes occur around the entertainment district and the University of Texas at Arlington.
Violent crime in Arlington has declined recently, seeing a 17% decline between 2022 and 2023, according to the police department’s annual report. The year’s reported 15 homicides is the lowest since 2018.
When compared to similarly sized cities nationally, studies using other metrics suggest Arlington is one of the country’s safest large cities.
A 2024 MoneyGeek.com study using FBI data to estimate the cost of crime in cities nationwide found Arlington had the 10th lowest crime cost per capita in cities with populations over 300,000.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data Explorer
- NeighborhoodScout.com SecurityGauge
- Arlington Police Department 2023 Annual Report
- MoneyGeek.com Safest Cities In America 2024: Violent Crime Rate Increases Drive Per Capita Cost of Crime
- Arlington Police Department Murder & Non-Negligent Manslaughter by Year
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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