Grim statistic

Texas outpaces the nation for COVID-19 deaths, Washington Post study shows

Texans are dying of COVID-19 at a higher rate than the national average.

Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images

A new data analysis puts Texas’ COVID-19 death toll in a harsh light.

The analysis of federal data, published September 15 by The Washington Post, shows 1 in 490 Texans have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. By no means is that the worst death rate among the states — that dubious distinction goes to Mississippi and New Jersey, each at 1 in 330. But the Texas rate is slightly worse than the national rate of 1 in 500. Hawaii and Vermont boast the lowest rates: 1 in 2,100.

According to data compiled by The New York Times, the Lone Star State had recorded close to 60,800 COVID-19 deaths as of September 15. That’s roughly equivalent to the number of people who live in the Austin suburb of Pflugerville or the Houston suburb of Spring.

Among Texas counties, Harris County had reported the most COVID-19 deaths (nearly 7,700) as of September 15, followed by Dallas County (almost 4,600), Bexar County (nearly 4,400), and Tarrant County (more than 4,000), according to The New York Times. Travis County ranks eighth among Texas counties, with more than 1,200 deaths.

Foard County, located about 70 miles west of Wichita Falls, had seen the highest number of COVID-19 deaths per capita as of September 15 — 866 per 100,000. The statewide rate is 210 deaths per 100,000 residents.

Data collected by the Mayo Clinic shows 49 percent of Texans have been fully vaccinated against the virus that causes COVID-19, compared with 54 percent of the U.S. population.

Gov. Greg Abbott steadfastly opposes vaccine mandates, mask mandates, and government-required shutdowns as tools to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he does embrace vaccination as the “surest way to end the pandemic.” Some local officials around the state have sharply criticized Abbott’s refusal to impose virus-fighting measures.

“I think it’s pretty clear in the data that Texas is in the middle — or beginning, depending on how you look at it — of a really major pandemic surge, and not just in case counts but particularly in looking at healthcare needs across the state,” Spencer Fox, associate director of the COVID-19 Modeling Consortium at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune in August. “Many regions are now facing numbers that we haven’t seen since the winter.”

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SAFE SPACE

2 Houston neighbors ranked among the top 10 safest cities in Texas

Steve Francis home estate Memorial Villages

Photo by Kevin Ward

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Judging by the headlines, locals might think they're going to be accosted every time they leave home, but a new report says the Houston area is home to two of the safest cities in Texas. Home security review site SafeWise has ranked the communities of the Memorial Villages (No. 3) and Fulshear (No. 8) on its recent list of towns unburdened by crime worries.

For its 2026 report, SafeWise factored in FBI-reported property and violent crime data for 343 cities, then adjusted it for population in order to fairly compare metros to rural and suburban towns. Although the rankings do provide a snapshot, the site says “a number of factors, including local agency reporting practices, community resources, prevention efforts, and lived experience all influence how safe a place is (or is perceived to be).”

The rankings were released with SafeWise’s State of Safety survey, which found that perception didn’t always gel with reality. Although the statewide property crime rate of 23.4 incidents per 1,000 people is slightly higher than the national rate, Texas’ violent crime rate of 4.44 incidents per 1,000 people is consistent with the national average.

Still, Texans feel less safe than the average American. Only 49 percent of the survey’s respondents say they feel safe in the state compared to the national norm of 52 percent. 55 percent said they worry about their safety on a daily basis, a year-over-year increase from 52 percent. The data contrasts with first-hand reporting. For the second year in a row, Lone Star State participants said they have had few personal experiences with property crime and package theft.

Elsewhere in Texas, Fair Oaks Ranch was the only San Antonio area city to make it to the list, which favored towns of 30,000 residents or fewer. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan statistical area had the most ranked cities. The full top 10 includes:

No. 1 — Trophy Club (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 2 — Parker (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 3 — Memorial Villages (Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land)
No. 4 — Melissa (Dallas-Fort Worth)
No. 5 — Fair Oaks Ranch (San Antonio-New Braunfels)
No. 6 — Whitehouse (Tyler)
No. 7 — Murphy (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 8 — Fulshear (Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land)
No. 9 — Colleyville (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 10 — Lumberton (Beaumont-Port Arthur)

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