Damned Statistics

Is Fort Worth really the most hateful city in Texas?

Incomplete hate crime statistics from the FBI falsely paint Fort Worth as the most hateful city in Texas.

Photo courtesy of Fort Worth CVB

The FBI released its 2012 hate crime statistics on November 25. Despite all the charts, numbers and bullet points, a careful reading will get you no closer to understanding hate crimes in Texas. That's because the Lone Star State missed the deadline for inclusion in the study.

FBI Dallas spokesperson Katherine Chaumont confirmed Texas was one of two states (the other being New Jersey) that were not included in this year's hate crime report. Oddly, that didn't stop the FBI from publishing a partial report of Texas hate crimes, which is masquerading as a complete data set. Steve Fisher with the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services said in an email that some Texas agencies made the reporting deadline, and the FBI chose to publish those 20 reports rather than leave Texas off the list entirely. Of course, the fact that the Texas data is incomplete is never acknowledged.

By the FBI's estimate, only about 3 million of Texas' 26 million residents were covered in the survey.

According to statistics on the FBI's website, Fort Worth is the most hateful city in Texas, with a whopping 14 reported hate crimes in 2012. Of those incidents, 10 were race-related, three were about sexual orientation and one dealt with religion.

But before you go thumbing your nose at Cowtown, consider this: Dallas and Houston don't even make an appearance, and by the FBI's estimate, only about 3 million of Texas' 26 million residents were covered in the survey. This completely voluntary reporting produces such mind-numbing statistics as six total hate crimes in Alabama for 2012.

Dallas police spokesperson Sherri Jeffrey said in an email that DPD reported its 2012 hate crime statistics to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which Jeffrey believed would be sent to the FBI. They never made it to the federal office, but Texas' complete hate crime numbers are posted on the Texas DPS website.

And they look quite a bit different than the picture the FBI report painted. For example, the FBI report says Texas had 52 reported hate crimes in 2012. According to Texas DPS, that number is actually 170 — a 16.4 percent increase from 2011. Although the FBI statistics put Texas in the same hate crime league as Oregon and Maine (which also had 52 reported incidents), our real contemporaries are Arizona and Kentucky.

Dallas, which wasn't included in the FBI numbers, accounted for the most hate crimes in Texas, with 30 reported incidents. San Antonio was next with 17 hate crimes, and Fort Worth took third place with 14.

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Turkey Day news

Dallas eats up top-5 rank on list of best cities for Thanksgiving

Photo courtesy of Razzoo's

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Dallas is sitting at the head of the table as one of the best places in the country to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, a new study has revealed.

Dallas ranked No. 5 out of 100 of the largest U.S. cities in WalletHub's annual "Best Places to Go for Thanksgiving" report, published November 12. The city made a huge leap over its 2023 ranking as No. 17, and remains the highest-ranking Texas city.

The study analyzed each city based on 18 metrics to determine the best places for Thanksgiving, such as the number of pumpkin patches per capita, the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner, the number of volunteer opportunities, the average weather forecast, and more. The metrics were then organized into five overall categories to determine the rankings.

The category that Dallas ranked the highest in was the number of celebrations and traditions (No. 2), and the average weather forecast during the holiday period (No. 9), while the lowest-ranked category was for safety and accessibility (No. 82). Other categories that determined Dallas' overall ranking were affordability (No. 60), and a "giving thanks" rank (No. 26).

Dallas restaurants are getting prepared for their big Turkey Day feasts, and CultureMap has rounded up a thorough list of all of the local restaurants hosting holiday feasts, from brunch to dinner.

"The best cities for celebrating Thanksgiving all have an abundance of high-quality restaurants and places to buy festive decorations, and their residents get very excited for the holiday based on their Google search history," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

By Thanksgiving on November 28, Dallas will be fully decked for the December holidays. Dallasites who will have extended family in town during Thanksgiving weekend can take in of all the marvelous Christmas lights brightening the city. Dallas-Fort Worth goes all out for the most wonderful time of year.

Across North Texas, three Dallas-area cities also made big improvements from their 2023 rankings. Irving moved up 10 spots to claim No. 19 this year, and Garland jumped up 21 spots on the list as No. 34. Arlington made the biggest improvement in the region, moving from No. 78 last year to No. 55 this year.

Meanwhile, Plano and Fort Worth slipped in the rankings, falling into No. 44 and No. 45 in 2024, respectively. Plano previously ranked No. 38 in 2023, and Fort Worth was No. 36.

San Diego, California (No. 1) topped the overall list of best places to go for Thanksgiving this year, followed by its Golden State neighbors San Francisco (No. 3) and San Jose (No. 4). Atlanta, Georgia (No. 2) rounds out the top five.

dallas fort worth thanksgiving wallethub rankings

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Turkey Day news

Dallas eats up top-5 rank on list of best cities for Thanksgiving