Photo: StationNT5Bmedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Dayton reports more crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Dayton’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C+ for safety: #266 of 471 graded towns in Texas.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of TX” is every other Texas city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Dayton
Dayton reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 Texas towns on Dayton’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Liberty (C−). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Dayton’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.1) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns. Its property rate (16.7) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Dayton’s police reported 62 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.3 in the rest of Texas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Dayton | Rest of Texas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.9 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.4 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.3 | 4.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.6 | 3.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 15 property crimes reported
And about 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Texas.
Show as a table
| Year | Dayton property | Rest of Texas property | Dayton violent | Rest of Texas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.6 | 27.3 | 2.9 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 14.2 | 26.3 | 2.4 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 21.2 | 23.9 | 1.3 | 4.4 |
| 2025 | 14.7 | 20.6 | 2.6 | 3.8 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
175 crimes reported in 2025
26 violent and 149 property, as reported to the FBI by Dayton’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
23 people died in crashes on Dayton’s roads in 2019–2023
Dayton had 20 fatal crashes in five years, in which 23 people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 50.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Texas towns of 5,000–25,000 people (7.3, 297 towns).
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Dayton and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Texas towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton | C+ | 2.1 | 16.7 |
| Sanger | B+ | 1.0 | 9.1 |
| Josephine | B | 1.6 | 7.6 |
| Galena Park | B− | 1.6 | 10.7 |
| Sweetwater | C | 5.0 | 11.7 |
| Robstown | C− | 4.0 | 25.6 |
The five graded Texas towns closest to Dayton’s population (10,226), by grade.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Dayton. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Dayton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,106 in 2025); our figure for Dayton is 10,226 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Dayton
Is Dayton, TX safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Dayton reports more crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #266 of 471 in Texas. Its police reported 2.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.3 in the rest of Texas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Dayton?
2.1 violent and 16.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Texas reports 4.3 and 23.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Dayton?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Dayton safer than Liberty?
Liberty reports more crime per resident than Dayton: Liberty grades C− for safety and Dayton C+. Liberty’s police reported 3.3 violent and 19.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Dayton?
Dayton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Dayton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Dayton.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.