Dayton, TX is close to the national middle for violent crime, and earns a B PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 63% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Dayton, TX shows violent crime at 130 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,120.6 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 63% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
B safety grade
130/100K violent
2120.6/100K property
-63% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Dayton, TX
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Dayton reported 13 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 9,997. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
Comparable rate records
Dayton's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Texas cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Dayton's 130.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Hedwig Village (130.0), Round Rock (130.7), Manor (131.1), Devine (128.6). 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.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 5.8% of the 225 Part I offenses reported in Dayton for 2024, against a median of 14.4% across comparable Texas cities — a gap of 8.6 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 105.8 per 100,000 in 2020 to 130.0 in 2024 (+23.0%). The highest observed value was 285.7 in 2022 and the lowest 105.8 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Dayton sits mid-pack among comparable Texas cities
At 130.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Dayton ranks 446 of 686 — above 239 of the 685 other Texas cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -27.7% against the cohort median of 179.9. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Property counts dominate Dayton'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.
Based on 13 reported violent incidents in a population of 9,997. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
Small-city offense counts above are voluntary UCR submissions, not neighbourhood advice. Year-to-year swings can look large when the population base is modest.
Dayton's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 30.7 Census sq mi, Dayton logged 6.9 property and 0.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Dayton's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (66% of 225 offenses; mix index 4,753).
Violent offenses are only 6% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (30.7 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Both rates shifted (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-45.4%
238.2 → 130/100K
Property Crime Rate
+47.3%
1439.7 → 2120.6/100K
Property offenses lead Dayton's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
212
2120.6
1711
Larceny-Theft
148
1480.4
-
Burglary
35
350.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
29
290.1
-
Arson
1
10
-
Violent Crime
13
130
352
Aggravated Assault
9
90
-
Rape
2
20
-
Robbery
2
20
-
Murder
0
0
-
Dayton Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Dayton property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averagesRead the chart as a list
Dayton: 130 violent, 2121 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Whitehouse: 70 violent, 379 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Kaufman: 121 violent, 1485 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Raymondville: 881 violent, 1970 property per 100,000 (grade F)
Galena Park: 109 violent, 789 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Sanger: 99 violent, 1123 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Sweetwater: 501 violent, 1120 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Woodway: 123 violent, 942 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Helotes: 29 violent, 1074 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Dayton Police Department
Reporting agency for Dayton NIBRS-participating
Dayton Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Dayton's 225 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
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 Dayton in population. Their populations run from 9,768 to 10,247, against 9,997 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Dayton reported 13 violent crimes and 212 property crimes, for a total of 225 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Dayton?
From 2023 to 2024, Dayton's violent crime rate decreased by 45.4%, and the property crime rate increased by 47.3%.
What is the most common crime in Dayton?
The most common crime type in Dayton is larceny-theft, accounting for 65.8% of all reported crimes (148 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Dayton is sourced from FBI UCR Table 8 for 2024; rates use that row's population.
Small-city rows use the same per-100,000 formula; a few unreported years can leave gaps in the trend table. Verify the agency's submission on FBI.gov UCR.
Disclaimer (small city): UCR counts here are informational only. They are not a victimization probability. Source: FBI UCR Program.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Dayton, TX rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.