Homicides in San Antonio dropped 20% within the first half of 2025 in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months, in line with new information from the Council on Legal Justice — a pointy flip from the place town stood just some years in the past.
Whereas not the biggest drop amongst main U.S. cities, the decline marks a significant shift after San Antonio noticed among the steepest murder will increase throughout the COVID-19 pandemic years.
From mid-2020 to mid-2023, town noticed year-over-year will increase in homicides, in line with the nonpartisan assume thank’s evaluation of 12-month rolling information that was launched on Thursday.
The violence peaked in 2022 when the San Antonio Police Division reported 231 murders, together with the 53 migrants who had been discovered useless in a tractor-trailer on the Southwest Aspect — to the FBI’s Nationwide Incident-Primarily based Reporting System.
Now, that pattern seems to be reversing.
Within the first quarter (January to March) of 2025, SAPD reported a 37.5% drop in homicides in comparison with the identical time interval final 12 months — falling from 32 to twenty deaths.
The second 12 months analysis of the San Antonio Violent Crime Discount plan by the College of Texas at San Antonio discovered that violent crime started trending downward after the police launched a brand new technique in early 2023.
The plan focuses on small “scorching spot” areas the place officers are deployed throughout peak crime hours. Some areas obtain high-visibility patrols with flashing lights; others are focused with foot patrols or offender-focused groups tasked with serving warrants and gathering intelligence.
The numbers say violent road crime decreased by 22% in handled scorching spots final 12 months — greater than twice the citywide common of 9.6%. Areas close to ‘scorching spots’ additionally noticed a discount, down about 6% suggesting crime didn’t simply transfer from one place to a different.
The San Antonio Police Division mentioned the outcomes mirror the impression of its focused methods.
SAPD’s Public data Workplace mentioned in an emailed assertion that the division maintains its dedication to policing methods which have confirmed efficient. “These outcomes permit us to develop our emphasis on prevention — addressing the foundation causes of violence — and to adapt our sources the place they’re most wanted,” they wrote.
San Antonio’s murder price is now barely under the place it was earlier than the pandemic.
“San Antonio is about 3% decrease [in homicides] from 2025 to the primary half of 2019,” mentioned Ernesto Lopez, a senior analysis specialist on the Council on Legal Justice. “That’s a constructive signal. Not all cities in our pattern have that pattern — we discover that quite a lot of them nonetheless have elevated charges of murder.”
Taking a look at nationwide developments leads to a combined bag: some cities, like Nashville and Colorado Springs, have seen sharp will increase in homicides since 2019. Others, together with Baltimore and Virginia Seaside, are reporting among the steepest declines.
The trigger for these shifts remains to be up for debate.
In its evaluation, the Council on Legal Justice factors to a mixture of long-term and pandemic-era components — from adjustments in each day routines and policing methods to financial stress, diminished entry to social companies, and a breakdown in belief between communities and legislation enforcement. Every could have contributed to the surge in violence seen throughout the pandemic years — and to the declines which have adopted.
“We want extra information to grasp what actually occurred. I’ll observe that it’s promising that we’re seeing these declines,” Lopez mentioned. “What that implies is that whatever the causes, there are another components which have countered these murder developments sufficient to the place we’re seeing charges decrease than what we had been seeing in 2018 or 2019.”
