Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Lancaster reports more crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Lancaster’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #418 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 Lancaster
3 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 Texas towns on Lancaster’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Red Oak (C+), DeSoto (C), Wilmer (C−), Hutchins (D), Dallas (D). 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 Lancaster’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.
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Lancaster property | Rest of Texas property | Lancaster violent | Rest of Texas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 30.8 | 27.3 | 6.3 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 30.6 | 26.3 | 5.0 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 31.3 | 23.9 | 4.1 | 4.4 |
| 2025 | 20.6 | 20.6 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 21 property crimes reported
And about 4 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Lancaster’s police reported 510 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.2 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 | Lancaster | Rest of Texas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.3 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
982 crimes reported in 2025
143 violent and 839 property, as reported to the FBI by Lancaster’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 Lancaster’s roads in 2019–2023
Lancaster had 21 fatal crashes in five years, in which 23 people died; 3 were pedestrians. 7 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 11.3 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.
Lancaster 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | D | 4.2 | 27.5 |
| Friendswood | A− | 0.9 | 5.5 |
| Cleburne | B− | 2.3 | 10.6 |
| Weatherford | C+ | 2.0 | 14.6 |
| Copperas Cove | C | 3.3 | 14.0 |
| Seguin | C | 3.2 | 17.0 |
The five graded Texas towns closest to Lancaster’s population (40,526), 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 Lancaster. 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 Lancaster’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (40,640 in 2025); our figure for Lancaster is 40,526 (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 Lancaster
Is Lancaster, TX safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lancaster reports more crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #418 of 471 in Texas. Its police reported 4.2 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 Lancaster?
4.2 violent and 27.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Texas reports 4.3 and 23.5; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Lancaster?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Lancaster in 2025?
Lancaster’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 4.9 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Lancaster safer than Wilmer?
Wilmer reports less crime per resident than Lancaster: Wilmer grades C− for safety and Lancaster D. Wilmer’s police reported 3.3 violent and 21.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lancaster?
Lancaster’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lancaster”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lancaster.
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.