Per resident, Harker Heights records about as much crime as the typical place among U.S. towns
All told, Harker Heights grades B− for safety (#174 of 471 graded towns in Texas): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Annual rates stand at 1.6 violent crimes and 11.4 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 4.3 and 23.6 in the rest of Texas. The crimes the grade counts held steady per resident from 2023 to 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 Harker Heights
Harker Heights reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 2 Texas towns on Harker Heights’ borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Killeen (C−). Nolanville reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Neighbors ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Harker Heights’ grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Harker Heights’ grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (11.4) 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
Show as a table
| Year | Harker Heights | Rest of Texas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.2 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.1 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.3 | 4.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.2 | 3.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Harker Heights’ police reported 164 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.6 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.3 in the rest of Texas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Harker Heights property | Rest of Texas property | Harker Heights violent | Rest of Texas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.4 | 27.3 | 2.2 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 11.7 | 26.3 | 2.1 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 9.9 | 23.9 | 1.3 | 4.5 |
| 2025 | 12.5 | 20.6 | 1.2 | 3.8 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Texas.
Crime in Harker Heights per 1,000 residents
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.
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
491 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
43 violent and 448 property, as reported to the FBI by Harker Heights’ police.
Nine people died in crashes on Harker Heights’s roads in 2019–2023
Harker Heights had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which nine people died. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is about what is typical for Texas towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (6.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Harker Heights’s size would see about 10 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Harker Heights’s own rate (5.3) is context, not a ranking.
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.
Harker Heights and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harker Heights | B− | 1.6 | 11.4 |
| Killeen | C− | 5.0 | 15.8 |
| Nolanville | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Nolanville reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025.
Texas towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harker Heights | B− | 1.6 | 11.4 |
| Anna | B | 1.9 | 7.4 |
| Deer Park | B− | 1.2 | 12.7 |
| Del Rio | B− | 1.5 | 12.8 |
| Lufkin | D | 5.2 | 23.3 |
| Texarkana | D | 5.1 | 26.2 |
The five graded Texas towns closest to Harker Heights’ population (35,195), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
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 Harker Heights. 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 Harker Heights’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (35,790 in 2025); our figure for Harker Heights is 35,195 (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 Harker Heights
Is Harker Heights, TX safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Harker Heights reports less crime per resident than 52% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #174 of 471 in Texas. Its police reported 1.6 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 Harker Heights?
1.6 violent and 11.4 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.
How many homicides were there in Harker Heights in 2025?
Harker Heights’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Harker Heights safer than Killeen?
Killeen reports more crime per resident than Harker Heights: Killeen grades C− for safety and Harker Heights B−. Killeen’s police reported 5.0 violent and 15.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Harker Heights?
Harker Heights’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Harker Heights”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Harker Heights.
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.