Is San Antonio Safe to Live In? Homicides Are on Pace for Their First Sub-100 Year Since 2015

If you're moving to San Antonio, you want to know whether the city is safe to live in. The latest police numbers give you a better answer than you'd have found a few years ago.

San Antonio police reported 66 homicides from January through September, down 20% from 83 in the same stretch of 2025 (Source: KSAT reporting of SAPD's Public Safety Committee briefing, January–September 2026). At that pace, the city could finish under 100 homicides for the first time since 2015.

Police Chief Jesse Salame made that prediction to the City Council's Public Safety Committee, with a caveat: "I don't want to jinx it."

He's right to hedge. Here's what the numbers show, and what they leave out.

How Far Homicides Have Fallen

The last sub-100 year was 2015, when SAPD reported 94 homicides (Source: KSAT reporting of SAPD's Public Safety Committee briefing, 2015). Then the trend turned the wrong way.

Homicides peaked at 231 in 2022 (Source: KSAT analysis of SAPD records, 2022). That total included 53 migrants who died in a tractor-trailer on the South Side, though KSAT notes 2022 would still have been the peak without them. Since then, the yearly count has kept falling:

• 2023: 165
• 2024: 127
• 2025: 105

(Source: KSAT analysis of SAPD records, 2023–2025)

That's three straight years of decline.

Homicides Are Only One Measure

Homicides drive headlines, but they're rare. Assaults, break-ins and car theft shape your daily risk far more.

Overall offenses fell 6.1% in the first nine months of the year (Source: SAPD data via San Antonio Report, January–September 2026), a figure that covers all offenses SAPD reports, while homicide counts use a different basis. Assaults rose over the same period.

Definitions matter, too. The San Antonio Report's account of the same briefing cites 80 homicides through September versus 126 a year earlier (Source: SAPD data via San Antonio Report, January–September 2026). KSAT notes that SAPD reported 106 homicides at the end of 2025 (Source: KSAT, 2025), compared with the 105 in KSAT's own analysis of police records (Source: KSAT analysis of SAPD records, 2025).

Different counting rules, different totals.

How San Antonio Stacks Up in Texas

For apples-to-apples rates, turn to the Texas Department of Public Safety's annual Crime in Texas report. Here's how San Antonio compares with Houston, Dallas and Austin, per 100,000 residents:

City	Violent crime	Property crime	Murder
Houston	1,148.2	4,293.5	13.8
Dallas	658.1	3,351.9	13.61
San Antonio	594.2	4,623.7	8.41
Austin	466.8	3,241.8	6.6

(Source: Texas DPS Crime in Texas Annual Report, 2024)

These DPS figures cover calendar year 2024, so they predate the 2026 homicide decline described above.

San Antonio's violent crime rate sits well below Houston's and slightly below Dallas's, and its 2024 murder rate was lower than both. All four cities run above the national violent crime rate.

Property crime is the weak spot. San Antonio posted the highest rate of the four, which means break-ins and car theft are the risks to weigh most when you choose an address: look for secure or off-street parking, good lighting, and little recent property crime on the surrounding blocks.

Our Houston vs San Antonio cost-of-living comparison puts the two cities side by side, and our Nashville and Charlotte crime rate guide covers those metros if they're also on your list.

Why Citywide Numbers Can't Rate Your Street

SAPD covers only the city itself, home to 1,514,458 residents (Source: Texas DPS Crime in Texas Annual Report, 2024). The metro area has 2,813,140 residents (Source: Census Bureau Population Estimates, 2025), and suburbs patrolled by other agencies don't show up in SAPD's counts.

Crime also clusters, so a citywide rate can't describe one block. Before you sign, look up recent incident data for the exact address and the streets around it.

Safety Alongside Schools and Cost

Safety is one part of the family decision. Schools and monthly cost are the others.

Published Texas Education Agency ratings vary across the area's school districts, so check the district tied to each address in our San Antonio school district ratings guide. If you're renting, the two-bedroom HUD Fair Market Rent is $1,441 per month (Source: HUD Fair Market Rents, FY2027), and our San Antonio cost-of-living breakdown covers the rest of the budget.

Choosing a Safe Address in San Antonio

If you're the partner who wants the numbers, the trend is real and has held for several years. The caveats: this year's data covers only nine months, SAPD counts are preliminary, and year-end totals can shift as investigations continue. If you're the partner focused on family life, the falling homicide count and a 2024 murder rate below Houston's and Dallas's are real reassurance, as long as you choose by address and not by citywide average.

Start with our San Antonio housing market data and a mortgage calculator set to the current 7.32% 30-year fixed rate (Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, week of October 22, 2026). Then shortlist two neighborhoods by school rating, visit each on a weekday evening, and check address-level incident data before you make an offer.