The Safest Small Towns In Texas

A safe place to settle in Texas has to be more than one quiet year on a nice street. It is the reason parents move to Southlake for some of the state's top-rated schools, and the reason a family can settle in Boerne, with its German Main Street in the Hill Country, and expect the same quiet a decade on. In each of these eight towns, violent and property crime has stayed well below the statewide rate for years rather than a single lucky stretch. For anyone deciding where in Texas to put down roots, that is the difference between real safety and the look of it.

Southlake

In 2024 FBI UCR reporting, Southlake recorded about 32 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Property crime was roughly 1,000 per 100,000. The violent rate had also stayed low across several preceding years, so the town is not here because of one unusually quiet season. Its population was roughly 31,000.

Southlake Town Square is the part visitors are most likely to remember. The pedestrian blocks run around the civic center, with storefronts on both sides and public art set along the retail streets. A few miles away, Bob Jones Nature Center opens onto Cross Timbers habitat and a much rougher landscape. More than 20 miles of trails extend through the preserve and adjoining recreation land. Oak shade stands only a short walk from the storefronts, and the trail system sits close enough to Town Square for both to fit comfortably into the same afternoon.

Helotes

Most of Helotes' early history sits along Old Bandera Road. The town's short historic route passes buildings connected to nineteenth and early twentieth-century settlement, including former homes and old commercial structures. It takes very little distance to see where modern Helotes grew around the older community.

John T. Floore's Country Store is the reason to stay after dark. Major country performers have played the Texas dance hall for decades, and Willie Nelson has a long connection with the venue. The calendar at Floore's still lists live music, so a daytime walk through Old Town can end inside a working Texas dance hall.

The 2024 FBI UCR figures were unusually low. Helotes recorded about 29 violent crimes per 100,000 residents and roughly 1,074 property crimes per 100,000. Violent crime stayed low across several recent reporting years as well. With a population above 10,000, Helotes is large enough that the extreme statistical swings seen in very tiny towns are less of a factor.

Friendswood

Friendswood has enough residents to make its low crime rates meaningful, with a 2024 reporting population above 40,000. FBI UCR data show about 101 violent crimes and 545 property crimes per 100,000 residents that year. The violent rate had remained in a similarly low range across the preceding years. The interesting part for visitors sits close to the older center. Stevenson Park reaches toward Cowards Creek, where a pedestrian bridge connects with Old City Park. The historic Perry House is part of the early Quaker settlement that established the community. The Friendswood Historical Society also maintains the Frank J. Brown Museum nearby. The creek, early homes, and museum all occupy the same compact section of town, making it possible to see several pieces of Friendswood's history without spending the afternoon driving between them.

Canyon

Palo Duro Canyon State Park is the obvious reason to make the trip to Canyon. The rock walls and exposed layers cut sharply into the surrounding Panhandle, with hiking routes descending into terrain that looks nothing like nearby farm country. Canyon's 2024 FBI-derived rates also stand out. Violent crime was roughly 54 per 100,000 residents, and property crime was near 674 per 100,000.

Back in town, the 1909 Randall County Courthouse stands at the center of the square. Then there is Tex Randall. The 47-foot cowboy statue was built in 1959 and still stands beside US 60, oversized boots included.

The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum is worth the rest of an afternoon. Its collections cover regional geology and settlement, with substantial material on ranching and the oil industry. Georgia O'Keeffe taught at the local college during the 1910s and painted Texas landscapes during those years. The result is an unexpected art-history connection for Canyon, alongside its much louder roadside cowboy.

Boerne

For 2024, FBI UCR reporting put Boerne's violent-crime rate near 117 per 100,000 residents, roughly 27 reported offenses. Property crime was about 1,179 per 100,000. Both figures ran well below the statewide averages, and the multi-year record stayed in a similar range rather than spiking in a single year. The town had more than 20,000 residents, large enough to keep the numbers fairly stable.

The Hill Country Mile, the historic stretch of Main Street, is lined with limestone storefronts, restaurants, and shops. A short walk away, the Cibolo Center for Conservation keeps trails open through marsh, woodland, and prairie along Cibolo Creek. Boerne Lake sits northwest of town for paddling and fishing. The 1909 Kendall County Courthouse stands on the square at the center of the older district. German settlers founded the town in the mid-nineteenth century and named it for the writer Ludwig Boerne, and that heritage still shows in the street names and stonework.

Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg recorded about 85 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2024, roughly ten reported offenses, according to FBI UCR data. Property crime came to around 555 per 100,000. Both numbers ran far under the statewide rates, and the violent-crime rate had held in a low range across the preceding years. The reporting population was close to 12,000.

Main Street runs through a downtown of nineteenth-century German architecture, with the restored Vereins Kirche and the Marktplatz at its center. The National Museum of the Pacific War, spread across several buildings off Main Street, holds exhibits on the Pacific campaigns of World War II; Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg, and the museum centers on the old Nimitz Hotel, once run by his family. Wineries line US 290 east of town, part of one of the busier wine regions in the state. Enchanted Rock, a large pink granite dome, rises about 18 miles north, its bare summit a well-known hike. German immigrants established the town in 1846, and that heritage still shows in its festivals and food.

Lakeway

Lakeway's violent-crime rate stayed below 100 per 100,000 residents across each year between 2020 and 2024. In 2024, FBI UCR data put the rate near 78. Property crime was about 1,221 per 100,000. Those figures cover a community of roughly 19,000 people.

City Park is the clearest example of why people choose this part of Lake Travis. Its 64 acres sit beside Hurst Creek Cove, with nearly two miles of paths and access to the shoreline when the lake is high enough. The route is uncomplicated, so the water stays in view instead of sitting behind a long approach.

The terrain changes at Canyonlands. Trails drop below a limestone rim around Rough Hollow Cove and climb back toward higher views. The Lakeway Heritage Center is a quieter stop afterward, with photographs and local records on how the community developed around the lake. A day around Lakeway can stay close to the water, with the canyon trails a short distance inland for steeper ground.

Glen Rose

Dinosaur Valley State Park is the main reason most people turn off US 67 at Glen Rose. Dinosaur tracks are preserved in the bed of the Paluxy River, where sauropod and theropod prints were left in what was once coastal mud more than 100 million years ago. Trails cross the river and climb into cedar-covered hills on either side.

Glen Rose is small, with roughly 2,500 residents, so its crime figures move more than a larger town's would. Even so, FBI-based reporting puts its violent-crime rate well below the statewide average, and property crime also runs under the Texas rate. The multi-year pattern, not any single year, is what keeps it on a list like this.

Beyond the river, Fossil Rim Wildlife Center covers roughly 1,700 acres southwest of town, a drive-through conservation park with rhinos, giraffes, and other species kept in breeding programs. The 1893 Somervell County Courthouse stands on the square downtown, and Barnard's Mill, one of the oldest structures in the county, is now a local art museum. For a town this size, there is an unusual amount within a few minutes' drive.

What The Records Show

The thread across these towns is not one quiet year but a steady one. Each stayed below the statewide violent-crime rate across multiple reporting cycles, which matters most in the smaller places, where a single incident can swing a single-year figure. Their settings range widely. Southlake is an affluent suburb north of Fort Worth, Helotes a Hill Country edge of San Antonio, Friendswood an old Quaker colony near Houston, Canyon a Panhandle college town beside a state park, Boerne and Fredericksburg two German-founded Hill Country towns, Lakeway a lake community west of Austin, and Glen Rose a dinosaur-track town on the Paluxy River. Low numbers, in other words, are not tied to one kind of place in Texas.