Balch Springs, TX carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 19% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Balch Springs, TX shows violent crime at 417.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,815.2 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 19% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade D from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
D safety grade
417.6/100K violent
2815.2/100K property
+19% vs U.S.
The verdict
Balch Springs earns a D safety grade: violent crime runs 19% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
D
PlainCrime safety grade
+19%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
19th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
2,815.2
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Balch Springs, TX
Comparable rate records
Balch Springs's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Texas cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Balch Springs's 417.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Palestine (417.3), Rio Hondo (417.2), Ferris (418.3), Comanche (416.7). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Position in the state cohort
Balch Springs reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Texas cities
At 417.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Balch Springs ranks 104 of 686 — above 582 of the 685 other Texas cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +133.4% against the cohort median of 178.9. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 698.7 per 100,000 in 2020 to 417.6 in 2024 (-40.2%). The highest observed value was 698.7 in 2020 and the lowest 417.6 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Balch Springs's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-15.9%
496.7 → 417.6/100K
Property Crime Rate
-12.7%
3223 → 2815.2/100K
Property offenses lead Balch Springs's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
755
2815.2
1711
Larceny-Theft
491
1830.8
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
175
652.5
-
Burglary
89
331.9
-
Arson
1
3.7
-
Violent Crime
112
417.6
352
Aggravated Assault
72
268.5
-
Robbery
29
108.1
-
Rape
11
41
-
Murder
0
0
-
Balch Springs Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Balch Springs property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
2,815.2/100K↓12.7%vs 2023
Balch Springs violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
417.6/100K↓15.9%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
25,189
698.7
3060.9
947
2021
Comparable
24,746
666.8
3386.4
1,003
2022
Comparable
26,973
485.7
2973.3
933
2023
Comparable
26,776
496.7
3223
996
2024
Comparable
26,819
417.6
2815.2
867
How Balch Springs sits among TX peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Balch Springs Police Department NIBRS-participating
Balch Springs's crime figures on this page originate from Balch Springs Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Texas
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Texas cities closest to Balch Springs in population. Their populations run from 25,849 to 27,814, against 26,819 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Texas cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Balch Springs's 417.6/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Balch Springs has a violent crime rate of 417.6 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2815.2 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Balch Springs, TX safe? ▼
Balch Springs receives a safety grade of D (Below Average), with a safety score of 34/100. The violent crime rate is 19% above the national average and 6% above the Texas average.
What is the population of Balch Springs, TX? ▼
The reporting population for Balch Springs is 26,819 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Balch Springs? ▼
In 2024, Balch Springs reported 112 violent crimes and 755 property crimes, for a total of 867 reported offenses.
How do Balch Springs's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Balch Springs recorded about one reported offense per 31 residents and one reported violent offense per 239 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Balch Springs? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Balch Springs's violent crime rate decreased by 15.9%, and the property crime rate decreased by 12.7%.
What is the most common crime in Balch Springs? ▼
The most common crime type in Balch Springs is larceny-theft, accounting for 56.6% of all reported crimes (491 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Balch Springs figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Balch Springs, TX rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.