Crime by type
Austin Crime by Type
A breakdown of the offense categories that shape Austin's numbers, from the high-volume property crimes to the rarer violent ones.
Overview
What drives crime in Austin
Austin's crime mix leans heavily toward property offenses, with theft and vehicle-related crime making up the bulk of what residents actually report. Violent categories are far less common but cluster in specific corridors, which is why the citywide average can understate or overstate the risk on any given block.
By category
Rates and odds by crime type
Estimated annual rate per 100,000 residents and your everyday odds, with risk level relative to the U.S. average.
| Offense | Per 100k/yr | Annual odds | vs. U.S. | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theft / Larceny | 1,245 | 1 in 80 | -11% | Average |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 266 | 1 in 377 | -17% | Average |
| Burglary | 220 | 1 in 454 | -18% | Average |
| Aggravated Assault | 196 | 1 in 511 | -27% | Low |
| Robbery | 56 | 1 in 1,796 | -25% | Low |
| Rape | 24 | 1 in 4,217 | -29% | Low |
| Homicide | 4 | 1 in 24,970 | -20% | Average |
Drill down
What's actually reported in Austin
The most common specific offenses behind each category, from reported incident descriptions.
Assault 24,651 reports
Theft 23,825 reports
Drug Offense 6,877 reports
Vandalism 4,859 reports
Burglary 4,485 reports
DUI/Traffic 3,525 reports
Detail
Crime types in Austin, explained
Motor Vehicle Theft
Auto theft and theft from vehicles spike around dense apartment clusters and busy commercial lots, and they remain one of Austin's most frequently reported headaches for residents who park on the street.
Theft / Larceny
Theft is the single largest category by volume — shoplifting along retail corridors, package theft in growing neighborhoods, and items lifted from unlocked cars all feed the total.
Burglary
Residential and commercial break-ins are spread across the city but tend to rise in transitional areas and along older eastside and northern corridors rather than the newer master-planned subdivisions.
Aggravated Assault
Aggravated assaults concentrate downtown around the 6th Street and Rainey Street nightlife zones and in a few eastern and northern pockets, where late-night crowds and alcohol play a role.
Robbery
Robberies are relatively uncommon citywide and tend to follow commercial strips, transit stops, and nightlife areas rather than quiet residential streets.
Homicide
Homicide is rare relative to Austin's overall volume and is concentrated in a small number of corridors; with such low counts, year-to-year totals can swing sharply without signaling a broad trend.