According to a recent survey, 16 percent of people in Texas have experienced a violent crime in the last 12 months, while almost half of the respondents felt concerned about their safety. The survey also revealed that all of Texas' 50 safest cities reported lower than state and national violent crime rates.
Texas recorded a one percent increase in concern about safety this 2020 - from 48 to 49 percent, which is also three percent higher than the U.S average, according to the 2020 State of Safety in the Nation research.
There has also has been a rise in the reported property crime experienced over the past 12 months - 23 percent - but still is lower than the national average of 26 percent. And while Texas has a higher statewide crime rate, the Safewise report said the Texas cities that made it on the list have below the state and national crime rates.
Among the 50 cities named on the list, Floresville reported the highest violent crime rate with 1.8 incidents per 1,000; the state and national average are 4.1 and 3.7, respectively. More than half, 66 percent of these safest cities were able to limit violent crime to less than an incident per 1,000; Fulshear and West Univesity Place have each reported 0.1 incident for every 1,000.
The top 1,2, and 3 cities named on the list are all new entries to the top three safest cities: Fulshear, Hutto, and San Elizario. Half of the cities ranked this year improved year-over-year with Whitehouse making the most significant jump - up by 187 spots.
Fulshear ranked as the safest city in Texas - up by 23 positions - with a reported violent crime rate of 0.1 incidents per 1,000 in 2020. Fulshear reported a 0.7 and 0.2 violent crime rate in 2019 and 2018, respectively. Meanwhile, the reported property crime rate in 2020 was 4.4 incidents per 1,000; in comparison, Fulshear's reported crime rate was 6.6 and 6.7 in 2019 and 2018.
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Second ranking, Hutto, climbed 30 positions up as it reported a violent crime rate of 0.4 in 2020 as compared to 0.9 and 0.8 in 2019 and 2018. As for the property crime rate, Hutto reported a 3.2 PC rate in 2020 as compared to 5.5 in 2019 and 7.4 in 2018.
San Elizario is new to the list of safest cities in Texas and reported a violent crime rate of 0.4 incidents per 1,000 and a property crime rate of 3.1; enough for the city to rank third on the list.
Trophy Club is the fourth-ranked safest in Texas as it reported 0.2 violent crime incidents per 1,000 in 2020, which is unchanged from 2019 but lower than 2018, which was at 0.9. Trophy Club also reported a property crime rate of 5.3 in 2020 as compared to 6.8 and 6.3 in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Rounding out the top five is Fairview, which reported 0.2 violent crime incidents per 1,000 in 2020. In 2019, Fairview reported a violent crime rate of 0.1 while in 2018, the reported violent crime rate was 0.2. Lastly, Fairview also reported a property crime rate of 5.7 as compared to 6.4 and 6.1 in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
The 2020 State of Safety study surveyed 5,065 U.S. residents, with at least 100 people surveyed in each state.
Read the full Safewise report here.
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