Stephen Decatur Lawrence Farmstead · Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Mesquite reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Mesquite’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #441 of 471 graded towns in Texas, and #216 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000.
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 Mesquite
4 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Texas towns on Mesquite’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Sunnyvale (B), Seagoville (B−), Garland (C), Balch Springs (D), Dallas (D). Heartland is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
Homicides: below U.S. cities overall
Mesquite’s police reported 13 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 5.4 per 100,000 residents a year, below the rest of Texas (6.0) and about the same as all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: above the rest of Texas
84.8 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (106 reported in 2025), above the rest of Texas (75.1) and about the same as all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Mesquite reports less crime per resident than 34% (#216). Places like it ↓
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 Mesquite’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 | Mesquite property | Rest of Texas property | Mesquite violent | Rest of Texas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 36.5 | 27.3 | 4.7 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 36.7 | 26.2 | 5.1 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 29.8 | 23.9 | 5.0 | 4.4 |
| 2025 | 21.9 | 20.6 | 4.5 | 3.8 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 22 property crimes reported
And about 5 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.
Homicides and robberies
Mesquite’s police reported 13 homicides, 106 robberies and 680 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of Texas and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
Show as a table
| Year | Mesquite | Rest of Texas | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.1 | 8.0 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 3.4 | 7.0 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 8.7 | 4.9 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Mesquite | Rest of Texas | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 91.0 | 89.4 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 103 | 84.3 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 80.6 | 78.3 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 70.6 | 63.0 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
3,976 crimes reported in 2025
680 violent and 3,296 property, as reported to the FBI by Mesquite’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
70 people died in crashes on Mesquite’s roads in 2019–2023
Mesquite had 64 fatal crashes in five years, in which 70 people died; 15 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. Most of these deaths (40 of 70) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is 9.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for Texas towns of 100,000+ people (8.4, 43 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.
Mesquite and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mesquite | D | 4.9 | 29.4 |
| Dallas | D | 6.3 | 34.7 |
| Balch Springs | D | 4.3 | 28.9 |
| Garland | C | 2.2 | 20.1 |
| Sunnyvale | B | 1.5 | 9.7 |
| Seagoville | B− | 1.3 | 15.1 |
| Heartland | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Heartland is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
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 Mesquite. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Mesquite’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (150,193 in 2025); our figure for Mesquite is 150,693 (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 Mesquite
Is Mesquite, TX safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Mesquite reports more crime per resident than 90% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #441 of 471 in Texas. Its police reported 4.9 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 Mesquite?
4.9 violent and 29.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Texas reports 4.3 and 23.5; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Mesquite?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Mesquite in 2025?
Mesquite’s police reported 13 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 8.7 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Mesquite safer than Dallas?
Dallas reports more crime per resident than Mesquite: Dallas grades D for safety and Mesquite D. Dallas’s police reported 6.3 violent and 34.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Mesquite?
Mesquite’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Mesquite”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Mesquite.
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.