Melissa reports less crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Melissa’s police in 2023–2025, it grades A for safety: #15 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 Melissa
Melissa reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 2 Texas towns on Melissa’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: McKinney (B+), Anna (B). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Melissa’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Melissa’s police reported 33 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.4 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 | Melissa | Rest of Texas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.2 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.3 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 4.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 4 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, 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 | Melissa property | Rest of Texas property | Melissa violent | Rest of Texas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.2 | 27.3 | 0.2 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 3.7 | 26.3 | 0.3 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 3.4 | 23.9 | 0.4 | 4.5 |
| 2025 | 4.2 | 20.6 | 0.5 | 3.8 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
144 crimes reported in 2025
16 violent and 128 property, as reported to the FBI by Melissa’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Five people died in crashes on Melissa’s roads in 2019–2023
Melissa had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Texas towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (7.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Melissa’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Melissa’s own rate (5.0) 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.
Melissa 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.
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 Melissa. 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 Melissa’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (30,479 in 2025); our figure for Melissa is 29,969 (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 Melissa
Is Melissa, TX safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Melissa reports less crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #15 of 471 in Texas. Its police reported 0.4 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 Melissa?
0.4 violent and 3.8 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 Melissa?
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 Melissa in 2025?
Melissa’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 Melissa safer than McKinney?
McKinney reports more crime per resident than Melissa: McKinney grades B+ for safety and Melissa A. McKinney’s police reported 1.1 violent and 7.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Melissa?
Melissa’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Melissa”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Melissa.
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.