The University of Houston is steadfast in its commitment to providing a safe environment for everyone, including our students, to learn and succeed. We foster a culture that encourages the campus community to report crimes and have implemented a system to ensure transparency and consistency in how crimes are reported to our community and other agencies.

Texas’ largest universities consistently report low crime rates* year over year, and UH is among the lowest. Being in the heart of a major metropolitan area offers many advantages, and it also requires that our campus community play a pivotal role in campus safety.

*Violent crimes include aggravated assault, rape and robbery. None of the large public universities experienced murder or manslaughter.

City of Houston Violent Crime Stats
According to the latest FBI statistics (2023), the violent crime rate at UH is 10 times lower than the city of Houston. Rates are also more than 4 times lower than the Texas and national averages.

University of Houston Violent Crime Stats
According to Clery statistics (2023)

• Violent Crimes at UH (2023): 33
• Violent crime per 10,000 students: 7.1
  • In 2023, UH enrolled 46,676 students.
  • Students had a less than 1% (0.071%) chance of being a victim of violent crime.

The FBI cautions against using crime statistics to compile rankings, as this can lead to "simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions." We concur with their disclaimer.

Fact: UH consistently has among the lowest violent crime rates among large Texas public institutions.
UH, UT Austin and University of North Texas each reported 33 total violent crimes in 2023. UT had the lowest crime rate with 6.4 incidents per 10,000 students. UH and UNT each had 7.1 violent crimes per 10,000 students. The state average was 10.7 incidents per 10,000 among peer institutions. UH’s also had the lowest rate of violent crime per 10,000 students among all large universities in 2022.

Fact: UH is at or below the state average in all violent crime categories (Texas public universities with enrollment of 30,000 or more).

• The rate for aggravated assault at UH is 3.0 per 10,000 students compared to the state peer-institution average of 4.0
• The rate for forcible sex/rape at UH is 3.2 per 10,000 students compared to the state peer-institution average of 5.5.
• The rate for robbery at UH is 0.9 per 10,000 students compared to the state peer-institution average of 0.9.
• Additionally, UH had the lowest rate of weapons arrests or violations in 2023 among all peer institutions with only 1 violation and a rate of 0.02 per 10,000 compared to the state average of 1.19.

Fact: The majority of crimes that occur on campus are nonviolent.

• Crimes against property make up the largest portion of crimes that occur at UH (83.3%), while crimes against persons account for only 13.3%.
• Of the crimes against persons, 80.5% are nonviolent. Most are cases of simple assaults. Examples of simple assaults include: touching someone’s hand, bumping into someone by accident or not, or a threat of physical harm where physical contact does not have to occur.  
• Crimes against society are rare, comprising just 1.6% of the total.

Source: DPS data Aug. 2022-Aug 2023

Fact: The UH Police Department patrols campus 24/7, 365 days a year.
The University of Houston Police Department is an International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators accredited law enforcement agency, employing 65 police officers, 100 security officers and 10 dispatchers. In total there are more than 260 UH employees dedicated to campus safety and security.

Fact: In addition to patrols, UHPD monitors a comprehensive network of more than 3,300 security cameras across campus 24/7, 365 days a year.
The UHPD video patrol unit actively monitors UH’s camera feeds in real time, helping them to quickly detect and respond to suspicious activity or incidents. The cameras are strategically placed throughout campus to increase coverage and reduce blind spots in critical areas, including parking lots, entrances and high traffic areas.

Fact: Students have multiple options for connecting to UH Police when they need assistance.

• 9-1-1
• UH Go App
• 240 Emergency Blue Light Phones Across Campus
• Parking Lot Security Towers
• Call or Text (713) 743-3333
• Dialing 3-3333 from a campus phone

Fact: UH student residence hall safety is supported by multiple UH teams.
UH has nine residential areas including Bayou Oaks, University Lofts, Moody Tower, Cougar Village I and II, Quad, Cougar Place, Cullen Oaks and Cambridge Oaks. A multi-prong approach is used to support safety at UH residence facilities.

• Each UH residential building has 24-hour secured exterior doors and 24-hour customer service desk operations.
• UHPD patrols campus and can respond within minutes to all UH residential buildings.
• UH security staff also patrol the residential areas.
• Resident assistants are on duty each evening and walk through the building several times nightly.
• UH professional staff live in in each residential complex and are available around the clock for emergencies.
• Moody Towers now has two onsite 24-hour security personnel and for the next five weeks, two additional 24-hour security personnel will be on duty.

Fact: UH limits official access to all University residence halls.
Safety requires everyone’s participation. According to UH residence hall rules, exterior doors to residential buildings are to be locked 24 hours a day.

• The following buildings have keys given to residents for access to their rooms: Bayou Oaks, Moody Towers, University Lofts and Cougar Village I.
• The following buildings have card key access to their rooms: Cougar Village II, Cougar Place and The Quad.

Fact: Moving about campus is safe, and as an added measure, offers both security escorts and after-hours rides to the UH community.
As the data shows, the UH campus is safer than most when compared to other Texas public universities with enrollment of 30,000 or more. However, sometimes it is reassuring to know that additional on campus safety services are available when needed.

Security Escorts
Our security escort service is designed for the community members who have safety concerns and would like to have a security officer walk with them, for their safety, as they make their way across campus. In 2023, UH provided 6,432 security escorts to our campus community. Based on availability either a UHPD security officer or police officer will escort students, faculty and staff to locations beginning and ending on campus.

Cougar Ride
After hours and late hour rides can be requested through the UH Go app. In 2023, UH provided 6,443 trips for the UH community.

2023 Campus Violent Crime Statistics

Texas Public Universities with 30,0000+ Students