safety matters

New Braunfels ranks No. 4 safest midsize city in Texas

New Braunfels is the No. 4 safest midsize city in the state.

As the greater San Antonio area continues to grow with an influx of new residents, New Braunfels is leading the way in terms of safety and security for its residents, according to a new report.

New Braunfels has been named the No. 4 safest midsize city to live in Texas, and it ranks among the top 100 safest cities in the country, according to a new SmartAsset report.

The report, "America’s Safest Midsize Cities – 2026 Study," reviewed crime rates and natural disaster risk across 333 midsize cities with populations ranging from 65,000 to 250,000 residents. Disaster risk and auto fatality rates were evaluated on the county level.

The report's author states that no city is entirely risk-free, but some midsized cities "offer residents a stronger sense of everyday security than others." New Braunfels frequently appears on similar lists of the safest suburbs in America.

Based on the study's crime rate analysis, the city has a violent crime rate of 1.56 per 1,000 residents, there are 12.84 property crimes per 1,000 residents, and the auto fatality rate is 13.40 per 100,000 residents.

SmartAsset said New Braunfels has a "relatively moderate" natural disaster risk, which was calculated by converting Comal County's risk rating in FEMA’s National Risk Index to a five-point numeric scale. Specific natural disaster risks were not shared, but the report categorized risk levels in five levels: very low, relatively low, relatively moderate, relatively high, and very high.

The safest cities in Central Texas
Two popular Austin suburbs — Georgetown and Round Rock — lead Texas with balancing the trifecta of affordability, opportunity, and safety, SmartAsset found. Both cities are located in Williamson County, just north of Austin.

Georgetown came out on top as the No. 1 safest midsize city in Texas, and it ranked 27th in the national comparison. The city has a violent crime rate of 1.91 per 1,000 residents, and there are 8.74 auto fatalities per 100,000 residents. The city's property crime rate is a little higher, 11.7 per 1,000 residents, but it's among the lowest out of the 35 total Texas cities included in the report.

Round Rock, meanwhile, ranked as the third-safest midsize Texas city, and it ranked No. 53 nationally. This North Austin neighbor also has a slightly lower violent crime rate (1.31 per 1,000 residents) than Georgetown, but the city's property crime rate is higher: 19.41 per 1,000 residents.

Both suburbs share "relatively moderate" natural disaster risks, according to FEMA, and the same auto fatality rates.

Other Texas cities that rank among the top 100 safest midsize cities in America include:

No. 28 – College Station
No. 64 – Sugar Land
No. 75 – San Angelo
No. 83 – Bryan
No. 90 – Mission
No. 95 – Pharr

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The Boom Continues

San Antonio ZIP among 15 fastest-growing new neighborhoods in U.S.

Photo by Roger Starnes Sr on Unsplash

San Antonio keeps on growing.

As Texas' ever-growing population generates more demand among regional housing markets, one San Antonio ZIP code has seen more growth than many other ZIPs in the United States.

San Antonio's southwestern 78252 ZIP code ranks No. 15 in RentCafe's new study that analyzed the 50 fastest-growing "new neighborhoods" in the U.S. "that barely existed a decade ago." Two more local ZIPs, located in west San Antonio and Boerne, also made the cut.

The study reviewed housing inventory and population growth across 32,000 U.S. ZIP codes and narrowed down the search to the top 50 locales that experienced a 51 percent minimum surge in new housing units from 2014-2023.

Overall, Texas dominated the list with 17 of the nation's 50 booming new neighborhoods.

RentCafe determined the 78252 ZIP code in San Antonio saw a 187 percent surge in housing inventory in the last decade to keep up with the area's 111.6 percent population growth over the same period.

In 2014, there were just 8,629 residents living within the bounds of 78252, which stretches as far west as Gross Lane near Lacoste and as far east as the Solana Ridge and Pearsall neighborhoods. During that same year, there were only 2,073 housing units in the area, which has since spiked to 5,943 units as of 2023. The ZIP code now boasts a population of more than 18,000 residents, the study found.

Elsewhere in the San Antonio area, 78015 in Boerne and Fair Oaks Ranch, and 78253 in west San Antonio, respectfully ranked as the 44th and 49th fastest-growing ZIPs in the U.S. over the last decade.

The report's findings revealed the Fair Oaks Ranch area has more than doubled its housing inventory to 8,412 units, up from about 3,800 units in 2014. The area's population has also more than doubled, from 10,771 to 23,548 residents as of 2023.

The far west San Antonio population in 78253 has surged 105.5 percent over the last decade, from 32,884 to 67,578 residents, and housing inventory soared 115 percent to keep pace with the growth.

The top 10 "newest" neighborhoods in the U.S., says RentCafe, are:

No. 1 – Chino, California (91708)
No. 2 – Timnath, Colorado (80547)
No. 3 – Colorado Springs (80927)
No. 4 – Fulshear, Texas (77441)
No. 5 – Ponte Vedra, Florida (32081)
No. 6 – Jersey City, New Jersey (07311)
No. 7 – Fort Worth (76177)
No. 8 – Colorado Springs (80924)
No. 9 – Prosper, Texas (75078)
No. 10 – Melissa, Texas (75454)

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