Texas property crime in 2025: the main numbers
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) reported 577,447 property-index offenses in 2025, compared with 656,300 in 2024. That is a drop of just over 12%.
All four offense types in the state’s main property-crime index went down. But theft was still the largest category, and police recorded nearly 79,000 burglaries. [1]
| Crime type | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Larceny / theft |
458,080 | 416,069 | -9.17% |
Burglary / breaking and entering |
90,334 | 78,945 | -12.61% |
Motor vehicle theft |
105,093 | 79,936 | -23.94% |
Arson |
2,793 | 2,497 | -10.60% |
Property-index total |
656,300 | 577,447 | -12.01% |
Source: Texas DPS, 2025 Crime in Texas Annual Report, page 16. Counts include residential and other places, not just businesses.
Three points stand out. Theft made up about 72% of the 2025 property-index total. Motor vehicle theft had the largest percentage drop. And burglary fell, but 78,945 offenses were still reported.
Important: A lower statewide crime count does not mean every business is less likely to be targeted. A construction site, warehouse, or parking lot needs its own risk review.
Theft was still the largest part of Texas property crime
Texas police recorded 416,069 larceny/theft offenses in 2025. That was 42,011 fewer than in 2024. The count has fallen since the higher totals seen in 2022.
The official theft category covers many kinds of stolen property. It can include goods taken from stores, tools, equipment, items left in vehicles, and other property. Motor vehicle theft is counted separately. [3]
A stolen tool from an open work area may be recorded differently from a theft inside a locked storage building. Both can cause real trouble for a business, even if the police report places them in different categories.
What does this mean for a construction business?
Think about a project where workers leave building supplies and equipment on-site overnight. The statewide theft count does not tell us how many construction sites were targeted or which tools were taken most often.
It does tell us that property theft remained a common offense reported to Texas police in 2025. For a general contractor, it makes more sense to ask what would be hard to replace: expensive tools, copper, building materials, or equipment needed for the next day’s work.
Those answers are more useful than the statewide total on its own.
Police reported nearly 79,000 burglaries in 2025
Texas DPS recorded 78,945 burglary and breaking-and-entering offenses in 2025. That is 11,389 fewer than the year before.
The five-year trend moved down as well. In 2021, Texas reported 98,239 burglaries. By 2025, the count was nearly 20% lower. [1]
What counts as burglary?
In federal crime reporting, burglary generally means entering a building or other structure unlawfully with the intent to commit theft or another serious crime. A door does not always have to be forced open for it to count. [3]
That matters for warehouses, offices, and storage buildings. A burglary may involve a broken window. But it can also involve someone entering a place they were not allowed to enter.
Imagine arriving at a warehouse on Monday morning and finding that someone got inside over the weekend. Even if stolen items are found later, staff may still need to check stock, repair doors, review footage, and work with police.
−12.61%
Change in reported burglaries, 2024 to 2025
−19.64%
Change in reported burglaries, 2021 to 2025
The Texas report does not tell us which business entrances are most often used in a break-in. That takes more detailed local and site-level data.
Vehicle theft had the biggest percentage drop
Texas police recorded 79,936 motor vehicle theft offenses in 2025, down from 105,093 in 2024. That’s a drop of 23.94%.
The longer trend is useful too. Vehicle theft reached 126,739 reported offenses in 2023, then fell in both 2024 and 2025. [1]
Construction equipment is not the same as motor vehicle theft
The FBI’s motor vehicle theft category covers vehicles such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, and SUVs. It does not include bulldozers or construction equipment. [4]
So a contractor should not use the motor vehicle theft count as the number of stolen loaders, excavators, or other machines. Those thefts may fall under another offense or property type.
Vehicle theft is a direct concern for car dealers and parking lot operators. Construction companies often need to look at both vehicles and other equipment.
How did Texas property crime change from 2021 to 2025?
One year gives us a snapshot. Five years helps us see the longer trend. The 2025 DPS annual report includes the same main offense categories for each year from 2021 through 2025.
Reported property-index offenses, 2021–2025
DPS counts four categories: larceny/theft, vehicle theft, burglary, and arson.
| Year | Larceny / theft | Burglary | Property-index total |
|---|---|---|---|
2021 |
457,224 | 98,239 | 648,433 |
2022 |
500,513 | 101,735 | 706,130 |
2023 |
477,617 | 93,780 | 700,804 |
2024 |
458,080 | 90,334 | 656,300 |
2025 |
416,069 | 78,945 | 577,447 |
Source: Texas DPS, 2025 Crime in Texas Annual Report, p. 16. Property-index totals also include motor vehicle theft and arson.
The highest total in this five-year view came in 2022. By 2025, Texas had 128,683 fewer reported property-index offenses than in 2022.
Two different trends. Two separate scales.
Theft fell in 2025. Burglary also fell. Both counts still include homes and other sites.
Larceny / theft
Burglary / breaking and entering
The population-adjusted rate also fell
DPS also reports offenses per 100,000 people served by participating agencies. This helps compare years when the population is changing.
The property-index rate fell from 2,109.80 in 2024 to 1,828.98 in 2025 per 100,000 people — a drop of 13.31%.
Both the reported offense count and the rate went down. But a rate per 100,000 people is not the chance that a particular business will have a break-in. A business has its own location, assets, opening hours, and security plan.
Which crimes made up most of the 2025 drop?
The total number of reported property-index offenses fell by 78,853 between 2024 and 2025.
We used the DPS numbers to see how much each offense type contributed to that change.
| Crime type | Fewer offenses | Share of total drop |
|---|---|---|
Larceny / theft |
42,011 | 53.3% |
Motor vehicle theft |
25,157 | 31.9% |
Burglary |
11,389 | 14.4% |
Arson |
296 | 0.4% |
Shares are calculated by dividing the decrease in each category by the overall decrease of 78,853 reported offenses.
More than half of the overall drop came from fewer theft reports. Motor vehicle theft made up almost another third.
What this does not prove: The DPS figures do not say what caused crime to fall. They cannot show that cameras, police patrols, guards, or any one measure was responsible.
Two real Texas property crime cases from 2025
Statewide numbers can feel far away from daily work. Public police releases show what two individual businesses faced in 2025. These are documented examples, not a sample of all Texas incidents.
White Settlement · February 21, 2025
More than $150,000 in construction equipment reported stolen
White Settlement police responded to a major theft at a commercial construction site. The original estimate was more than $150,000 in stolen equipment.
During the investigation, the person who reported the theft spotted some of the equipment listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Police used that lead in their investigation.
On March 21, officers from White Settlement and Dallas searched a location in Dallas and recovered stolen equipment believed to have come from construction sites around North Texas. Police said they helped victims recover almost all of the construction equipment involved.
Why the detail matters: The $150,000 figure was an initial estimate of equipment stolen. It was not a confirmed final loss after items were recovered. Keeping records of tools, equipment, and serial numbers can help when property goes missing.
Official account: White Settlement Police Department, March 22, 2025. [5]
White Settlement · December 24, 2025
A stolen SUV used in an attempted ATM burglary
Early on Christmas Eve, White Settlement police responded to a break-in at a convenience store. The front of the store was badly damaged, and an ATM had been pulled through the building using a cable attached to a vehicle.
Police said the SUV involved had been stolen in Dallas. The ATM later came loose and was recovered. In a March 2026 update, police announced arrests in the case and said they had recovered all the cash from the ATM.
The event shows how a business can deal with building damage, a stolen vehicle, and an attempted theft during the same incident.
Official accounts: White Settlement Police Department, December 24, 2025, and case update, March 28, 2026. [6]
A note about examples: Two cases cannot tell us how often similar incidents happen statewide. The larger trends come from the DPS data, not these examples.
Does falling property crime mean a business needs less security?
Not necessarily. A statewide drop is a good sign, but choosing security for one property is a different decision.
A busy office with staff inside during the day has different needs from an empty construction site at night. A car dealership with vehicles parked outside faces different risks from a warehouse that keeps stock inside.
Before changing a security plan, start with a few simple questions:
- What could be stolen? List valuable vehicles, tools, equipment, and materials that would be expensive or hard to replace.
- When is the site empty? Check nights, weekends, holidays, and times when deliveries are left outside.
- Where could someone enter? Look at gates, loading doors, side entrances, storage rooms, and places that are hard to see.
- What happens when an alert comes in? Know whether cameras only record video or whether someone can check the alert and take action under a clear plan.
- What has happened at this property before? Check past losses, damage, missing items, and police reports.
These are practical site questions, not findings from the DPS report. They help put statewide crime figures into context.
What does the data mean for construction sites, warehouses, and parking lots?
The main DPS report combines crimes at homes, businesses, vehicles, and other locations. It does not publish a complete construction-site theft rate or a warehouse-only burglary rate in the statewide property-index table.
That means we should not label the statewide figures as commercial-property statistics. Each business needs more local detail.
01 / JOBSITES
Construction sites
If tools or materials go missing, workers may be left waiting. Replacing equipment can mean new orders, schedule changes, and time spent dealing with the loss. The DPS theft count does not measure those project costs.
02 / INDUSTRIAL
Warehouses and yards
Check loading bays, after-hours access, outdoor storage, and who can enter. State police counts provide background, but they cannot replace a review of the facility itself.
03 / VEHICLES
Dealerships and lots
Vehicle theft is more directly relevant to these sites. The statewide drop is encouraging, but the value and number of vehicles at one location still matter when planning protection.
The biggest question is not just how many offenses occurred across Texas. It is what one theft or break-in could mean for the people, work, and assets at a particular property.
Was the decline happening across the United States?
Texas was not the only place to see a drop in reported property crime in 2025.
In October 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics released Crime Known to Law Enforcement, 2025. Its estimated national property-offense rate fell by about 13% from 2024 to 2025. [7]
Texas · DPS index rate
−13.31%
Change in the DPS property-index rate, 2024–2025
United States · BJS estimate
About −13%
Change in the estimated national property-offense rate, 2024–2025
The federal report estimates national rates using a different method from the Texas DPS annual report. So we should not treat the two rates as exactly the same measure.
The useful point is that both sources show a downward trend for 2025.
What the official crime data cannot tell us
Police records are useful, but they are not a complete picture of every theft or break-in.
- Not every crime is reported. Some stolen items or damaged property may never be reported to police, so the published counts cannot include every event.
- Numbers can be updated. The 2025 DPS report included records submitted by March 20, 2026. The live DPS data portal can change when agencies add or correct reports.
- Offenses are not always the same as events. One event can involve more than one offense. A statewide offense count should not automatically be called a number of separate incidents.
- The property index is not every property-related offense. It covers theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Other offenses, including fraud or vandalism, need separate data.
- Reporting coverage and rules matter. Texas moved to mandatory NIBRS reporting after a 2023 law change. Changes in agency participation and submitted records can affect comparisons, especially when working with smaller groups.
- These are not commercial-site rates. Statewide counts include homes and other places. They do not give a valid construction-site, warehouse, or dealership theft rate by themselves.
- Lower crime does not prove why crime fell. The DPS report cannot show that a particular camera, security guard, alarm, or monitoring service caused the change.
What Texas businesses should take away
The main finding is simple: reported property crime went down across Texas in 2025. Theft, burglary, and vehicle theft all fell in the official state figures.
That’s positive. But the state still recorded hundreds of thousands of theft offenses and tens of thousands of burglaries.
For a business, a useful security review starts with the property: what is kept there, when people are away, how someone could get in, and what will happen if a problem is found.
The state numbers give us context. The site itself tells us what needs attention.
Questions about Texas property crime in 2025
Did property crime decrease in Texas in 2025?
Yes. Texas DPS reported 577,447 property-index offenses in 2025, down from 656,300 in 2024. That is a 12.01% drop in reported offenses.
How many thefts were reported in Texas in 2025?
Texas DPS recorded 416,069 larceny/theft offenses. Motor vehicle theft is a separate category and is not included in that figure.
How many burglaries were reported in Texas in 2025?
Texas DPS recorded 78,945 burglary and breaking-and-entering offenses in the 2025 annual report. This is a reported-offense count, not an estimate of every burglary that may have happened.
Are theft and burglary the same crime?
No. Theft generally means taking property that belongs to someone else. Burglary involves entering a building or other structure unlawfully with the intent to commit theft or another serious crime. The exact crime-reporting definition matters.
How many construction-site thefts happened in Texas in 2025?
The main DPS statewide property-index table does not provide a separate construction-site theft count. Detailed location-based records would need to be checked before reporting such a figure.
What was the largest property-crime category?
Larceny/theft was the largest category in the DPS property index. It accounted for about 72% of reported property-index offenses in 2025.
Can security cameras prevent property crime?
Cameras can help businesses see and record activity. Some systems can alert staff or live monitoring teams. But the Texas 2025 statewide crime report does not measure how much crime cameras prevented. Prevention claims need separate evidence.
Where can I find crime data for my city or area?
Use the Texas DPS Crime in Texas reporting portal and local police reports. Check the reporting dates, agency boundaries, offense definitions, and available data coverage.
How we researched this article
We used the official 2025 Texas DPS annual report as the main source. We also reviewed federal offense definitions, the national BJS property-crime release, and original police statements for the two real-world cases.
DPS also publishes separate tables on stolen and recovered property values. We did not mix those dollar figures into this article’s offense counts. [2]
Sources and references
- Texas Department of Public Safety. 2025 Crime in Texas Annual Report. Introductory material and page 16, crime volume/rate by offense. Read the DPS report (PDF).
- Texas Department of Public Safety. 2025 Crime in Texas Supplemental Reports. June 2, 2026. View supplemental tables.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Reporting — Offense Definitions. Definitions of larceny/theft, burglary, and motor vehicle theft. Read FBI offense definitions.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. Motor Vehicle Theft. Explains why bulldozers and construction equipment are excluded from motor vehicle theft. Read the FBI definition.
- White Settlement Police Department. Major Commercial Construction Theft Over $150,000. March 22, 2025. Read the police release.
- White Settlement Police Department. Stolen Vehicle from Dallas Used in Attempted ATM Burglary. December 24, 2025, and Suspects from Brazen ATM Theft Caught on Viral Surveillance Video Arrested and Charged, March 28, 2026. Original release · Police update.
- U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Crime Known to Law Enforcement, 2025. Released October 14, 2026. Read the national report.
Suggested citation: GuardVision, “Texas Property Crime in 2025: What Official Theft and Burglary Data Shows,” Research & Data, source review November 2, 2026. Original statistical source: Texas DPS 2025 annual report, p. 16.
