Amarillo Crime Rate (Canyon, West, Panhandle: house, high school, college)

[Tim-mac]

I have an oppertunity for a job offer in Amarillo TX. I first went to City-Data to check crime rates. I was a little suprised to find the crime rate as high as it is. Compared to cities in SoCal of the same size it is anywhre from 30 to 50% higher in Amarillo. I need your help. Is it isolated to certain areas? Is it better to live outide Amaillo? Please do not be offend by the questions. I need advice from locals who know. Thanks in advanced for any advice.

[GayleTX]

Almost all the crime in Amarillo is on the north, north/east part of town and is within the ethnic community there. The Amarillo Blvd area is somewhere you don't want to be, especially after dark.

Our business was on the East loop and we were broken into a few times altho we had nothing anybody would ordinarily look for (no cigs, drinks, food, money,etc....just offices). When the police would come, they would dust for prints, take a report and say "Well, give us a call if you figure out who did it." Okay.

We chose to live outside of Amarillo in the little town of Panhandle.....it is a safe, wonderful little town. We lived there 5 years (left 3 years ago) and never locked our house or took the keys out of the car. The whole world should feel as safe and happy as Panhandle.

[elvalle_mayne]

You also have to look at what TYPE of crime i.e. larceny, theft, assault, rape, forgery/fraud etc. It may have relatively avg. crime rates for certain areas but are above avg. on others which raises its crime rate. That doesn't necessarily mean its "dangerous". I would worry more about it if it had a high murder/assault rate. Anything close to the 20/100,000 for murder you should be cautious. I don't believe Amarillo has been anywhere near that.

[karenew]

I agree with the previous posters that state that it depends WHERE you are and WHAT types of crime are being committed.

If this sets your mind at ease, I moved here from Port Hueneme (Ventura County- So California) and was suprised every morning that my car wasn't broken into while I was there.

We have lived in Amarillo for almost 6 years and our house has never been broken into, nor our cars. (I park on the driveway). Sure, I have had teenager type stuff with firecrackers in my mailbox around July 4th and random drive through cups in my mailbox, but that is it.

There are areas that I would avoid as much as possible after dark, but overall it is a safe place.

(There are a lot of stolen cars in the area, but I don't really count them because the owner leaves the car running and runs inside a store.. well, whadda expect if the car is running and no one is watching the car?)

[TXSooner]

I live in West Amarillo near the mall and I think that the crime rate is mostly coming out of the Amarillo Boulevard and NE side of the city. Amarillo Boulevard is on the north side of the city and has junkies and prostitutes walking up and down it in broad daylight. There are tons of arrests that come from this area (I work in the criminal justice system). Besides the Blvd. and NE, the rest of the town is relatively safe.
Amarillo is divided down the center by a county line, with the north half in Potter County (where Amarillo Blvd and the NE is) and the southern half in Randall County. I can safely say that Potter County has twice as many criminal cases as Randall County. Furthermore, the south side of the city, particularly the SW is the more well-to-do side of the city.

Now you might want to consider Canyon, a little town of about 15k residents 18 miles south of Amarillo. I've heard colleagues of mine rave about how it has the best high school in the area, has that small town feel and is safe. It is also a college town with West Texas A&M. I wanted to get a house there but my wife didn't want to commute! LOL!

[shannonM]

I wonder why there hasn't been many responses to this thread? If you live in Amarillo I would think you all would have more info to help a possible newcomer.