Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 3.0Denison sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Denison grades B for safety (#150 of 471 graded towns in Texas): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Denison
Denison reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 Texas towns on Denison’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Sherman (C). Neighbors ↓
Among Texas towns, higher
Texas’ cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Denison’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 68% of the 471 Texas towns we grade, against 55% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Denison’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Denison’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.2) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Denison’s police reported 175 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.2 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 | Denison | Rest of Texas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.8 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.5 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.7 | 4.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.3 | 3.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 8 property crimes reported
And about 2 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 | Denison property | Rest of Texas property | Denison violent | Rest of Texas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.5 | 27.3 | 2.8 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 8.4 | 26.3 | 2.5 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 8.2 | 23.9 | 1.7 | 4.5 |
| 2025 | 7.5 | 20.6 | 2.3 | 3.8 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
262 crimes reported in 2025
61 violent and 201 property, as reported to the FBI by Denison’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
20 people died in crashes on Denison’s roads in 2019–2023
Denison had 20 fatal crashes in five years, in which 20 people died; 4 were pedestrians.
That is 15.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Texas towns of 25,000–100,000 people (6.1, 88 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.
Denison 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denison | B | 2.2 | 8.0 |
| Colleyville | A | 0.4 | 5.1 |
| Ennis | B− | 2.0 | 12.2 |
| Saginaw | C+ | 2.4 | 11.9 |
| Lake Jackson | C | 2.7 | 16.3 |
| Balch Springs | D | 4.3 | 28.9 |
The five graded Texas towns closest to Denison’s population (26,822), 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 Denison. 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 Denison’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (26,950 in 2025); our figure for Denison is 26,822 (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 Denison
Is Denison, TX safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Denison reports less crime per resident than 55% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #150 of 471 in Texas. Its police reported 2.2 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 Denison?
2.2 violent and 8.0 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 Denison?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Denison in 2025?
Denison’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.7 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Denison safer than Sherman?
Sherman reports more crime per resident than Denison: Sherman grades C for safety and Denison B. Sherman’s police reported 3.5 violent and 16.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Denison?
Denison’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Denison”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Denison.
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.