Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0For violent crime, San Marcos trails 83% of U.S. towns per resident
That puts it at C− for safety, judged on crimes San Marcos’ police reported from 2023 to 2025: #388 of 471 graded towns in Texas. The crimes the grade counts fell 14% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Out of every 1,000 residents, 4.1 violent crimes and 21.5 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 4.3 and 23.6 in the rest of 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 San Marcos
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 Texas towns on San Marcos’ borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Kyle (B). Redwood is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
A college town
San Marcos is home to Texas State University, with 35,577 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 31% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read 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 San Marcos’ 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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | San Marcos property | Rest of Texas property | San Marcos violent | Rest of Texas violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 26.1 | 27.3 | 6.4 | 5.1 |
| 2023 | 22.8 | 26.3 | 4.5 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 22.6 | 23.9 | 3.6 | 4.5 |
| 2025 | 19.3 | 20.6 | 4.1 | 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 San Marcos 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | San Marcos | Rest of Texas | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.4 | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.6 | 4.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
San Marcos’ police reported 894 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.3 in the rest of Texas and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
1,777 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.
313 violent and 1,464 property, as reported to the FBI by San Marcos’ police.
65 people died in crashes on San Marcos’s roads in 2019–2023
San Marcos had 58 fatal crashes in five years, in which 65 people died; 15 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 26 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 18.3 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.
San Marcos and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Marcos | C− | 4.1 | 21.5 |
| Kyle | B | 1.9 | 8.5 |
| Redwood | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Redwood is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
Texas towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Marcos | C− | 4.1 | 21.5 |
| Flower Mound | A− | 0.6 | 6.1 |
| Missouri City | B | 1.5 | 9.7 |
| Cedar Park | B− | 1.0 | 13.0 |
| Pharr | C+ | 2.3 | 12.3 |
| Longview | C− | 3.7 | 23.2 |
The five graded Texas towns closest to San Marcos’ population (77,830), 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 San Marcos. 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 San Marcos’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (75,924 in 2025); our figure for San Marcos is 77,830 (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 San Marcos
Is San Marcos, TX safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, San Marcos reports more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #388 of 471 in Texas. Its police reported 4.1 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 San Marcos?
4.1 violent and 21.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Texas reports 4.3 and 23.6; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in San Marcos in 2025?
San Marcos’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 5.3 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is San Marcos safer than Kyle?
Kyle reports less crime per resident than San Marcos: Kyle grades B for safety and San Marcos C−. Kyle’s police reported 1.9 violent and 8.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices San Marcos?
San Marcos’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “San Marcos”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in San Marcos.
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.