CrimeMetric

Crime in Waco, Texas

Major crime in Waco is 27% above the U.S. rate per resident: 31% higher for persons crimes and 26% higher for property crimes. Expected major crimes are down 6.2% from a year earlier.

Modeled estimates per resident, not counts of incidents. How we calculated this

Major crime
127
27% above the U.S. rate
13% above the Texas rate
down 6.2% in a year
Persons crimes
131
31% above the U.S. rate
31% above the Texas rate
down 5.1% in a year
Property crimes
126
26% above the U.S. rate
10% above the Texas rate
down 6.4% in a year
Social disorder
141
41% above the U.S. rate
32% above the Texas rate
down 4.1% in a year

Index: crimes per resident compared with the U.S., where 100 is the U.S. rate and 200 is twice it.

Check an address in Waco

Crime by type

Rape / sexual assault stands out most, at 2.7 times the U.S. rate

Expected crimes per year in Waco for each type, and the index against the U.S. rate per resident.

Citywide indexWhere the middle half of residents live

IndexPer year

How crime varies across Waco

The middle half of Waco residents live in neighborhoods with a major-crime index between 50 and 127; the typical (median) resident's is 87. The citywide figure (127) is higher than that because crime concentrates in a smaller set of areas.

Map of Waco, with its census block groups shaded by major-crime index band
Block groups shaded by major-crime index, in the bar's bands below; pale gray where fewer than 100 people live. Tap one to compare it. Highways and boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau.
  • 0–5025.3%
  • 50–10035.2%
  • 100–20027.5%
  • 200–4009.4%
  • 400+2.6%

Share of residents by the index of their census block group, a neighborhood of roughly 600 to 3,000 people.

When it happens

Highest on Friday and Saturday nights

Major-crime index by time of week, against the U.S. rate for the same hours.

Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm118
Sunday to Thursday nights, 6pm to 6am134
Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 6pm121
Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm to 6am145
Trend and outlook

Major crime fell 6.2% in a year; across Texas it fell 9.2%

Past yearBy 2031
Major crime-6.2%TX -9.2%-10.5%TX -8.6%
Persons crimes-5.1%TX -8.9%+1.5%TX +2.5%
Property crimes-6.4%TX -9.3%-13.2%TX -10.7%
Social disorder-4.1%TX -7.7%-3.6%TX -2.0%

Change in expected crimes, with Texas as a whole in gray. The past year uses the reporting agencies' year-to-date FBI data; 2031 is the model's projection.

Similar-size places

Waco against U.S. places with 100,000 to 250,000 residents

102 of the 268 other places of this size have a higher major-crime index than Waco; the middle of the group is 109. The 9 nearest in population:

Pomona, CA148,718183
Rockford, IL152,361163
Mesquite, TX150,924144
Thornton, CO149,426128
Waco, TX150,092127
Visalia, CA147,865109
Midland, TX152,61299
Escondido, CA149,44596
McAllen, TX151,85284
Palm Bay, FL151,07762

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; residents in gray.

Nearby places

Waco has a higher major-crime index than 7 of its 8 nearest neighbors

The 8 nearest cities and towns we cover, by major-crime index. The closest, Woodway (5 mi), is 57% below Waco's rate.

Bellmead6 mi163
Waco127
Marlin23 mi56
Woodway5 mi54
McGregor16 mi53
Robinson6 mi51
Hewitt6 mi43
Clifton29 mi22

Major-crime index per resident, U.S. = 100; distances between where residents live, in miles.

Questions about crime in Waco

What are the most common crimes in Waco?

By expected count, the most common persons and property crimes are other larceny (about 992 a year), theft from vehicle (about 565 a year) and shoplifting (about 521 a year). Compared with the U.S., rape / sexual assault stands out most: 2.7 times the U.S. rate per resident.

How we calculated this

Each police agency's crimes, as reported to the FBI, are spread across the census block groups it serves using population, jobs, points of interest and, where available, local incident records. Waco's figures add up its 102 block groups. The index compares crimes per resident with the U.S. rate.

  • Waco's published incident records inform the estimate for every neighborhood.
  • 67.4% of residents live in block groups whose estimate has high confidence (80% interval within about 5x).
  • Rates are per resident, so places where many people work or visit but few live, such as downtowns, airports and stadiums, can read high.
  • Disorderly conduct and trespassing are modeled, because the FBI records them only through arrests.
  • Residents: 150,092. Model updated Oct 20, 2026. Release 2026-2026-10-20-2

Full method and validation·Data sources

Cite this page

CrimeMetric. "Crime in Waco, Texas." Vorp Labs, model updated Oct 20, 2026. https://crimemetric.com/tx/waco

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Major-crime index, U.S. = 100