Taft, TX is close to the national middle for violent crime, and earns an A PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 62% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Taft, TX shows violent crime at 135.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 846.9 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 62% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A safety grade
135.5/100K violent
846.9/100K property
-62% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Taft, TX
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Taft reported 4 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 2,952. 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
Taft's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Texas cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Taft's 135.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are New Deal (135.7), Nolanville (135.3), Hillsboro (135.2), Buda (135.1). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 105.3 per 100,000 in 2020 to 135.5 in 2024 (+28.7%). The highest observed value was 137.8 in 2023 and the lowest 0.0 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Taft sits mid-pack among comparable Texas cities
At 135.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Taft ranks 431 of 686 — above 255 of the 685 other Texas cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -24.7% 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 Taft'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 4 reported violent incidents in a population of 2,952. 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.
Taft's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 1.7 Census sq mi, Taft logged 15 property and 2.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Taft's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (62% of 29 offenses; mix index 4,316).
Violent offenses are only 14% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (1.7 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
+44.6%
585.6 → 846.9/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-1.7%
137.8 → 135.5/100K
Property offenses lead Taft's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs TX
Property Crime
25
846.9
2058.2
Larceny-Theft
18
609.8
-
Burglary
5
169.4
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
2
67.8
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
4
135.5
394.7
Aggravated Assault
3
101.6
-
Robbery
1
33.9
-
Murder
0
0
-
Rape
0
0
-
Taft Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Taft property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell 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
Taft: 136 violent, 847 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Stamford: 101 violent, 609 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Oak Ridge North: 68 violent, 2481 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Van: 103 violent, 956 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Kemah: 240 violent, 3390 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Shallowater: 206 violent, 240 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Spearman: 0 violent, 0 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Fairfield: 365 violent, 1261 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Clarksville: 35 violent, 139 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Taft Police Department
Reporting agency for Taft NIBRS-participating
Taft Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Taft's 29 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 Taft in population. Their populations run from 2,886 to 3,014, against 2,952 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Taft reported 4 violent crimes and 25 property crimes, for a total of 29 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Taft?
From 2023 to 2024, Taft's violent crime rate decreased by 1.7%, and the property crime rate increased by 44.6%.
What is the most common crime in Taft?
The most common crime type in Taft is larceny-theft, accounting for 62.1% of all reported crimes (18 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Taft 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.