Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 25, 2026 and October 1, 2026.
Buda, Texas, in Hays County, has about 16,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Hays County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Buda public records, Hays County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Buda
The FBI lists Buda with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Buda Police Department. It reported 280 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Hays County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,153 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Hays County: the Hays County Constable's Precincts 1, 2, 3, 5 and 4 and the Hays County Fire Marshal's Office (other); Texas State University at San Marcos (campus police).
How Many Arrests Buda Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Buda: 280 for 2025, 293 for 2024, 240 for 2023, 241 for 2022, 256 for 2021 and 402 for 2020.
Buda's 280 arrests in 2025 were down 4.4 percent from 293 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Buda reported 156 arrests, against 166 in the same months of 2025.
Across Hays County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,754 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Buda Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Buda is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 440 people on an average day, up from about 310 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 633 beds, and it is running at 69 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Hays County Sheriff's Office at hayscountytx.gov/sheriff/correctionsbureau (page title: Corrections Bureau Services | Hays County Texas | San Marcos, TX), phone 512-393-7800, 810 S Stagecoach Trail San Marcos, TX 78666, Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 429), so open it in a browser.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, whose inmate locator is at inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/start.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Buda
For Buda the place to look is the case index of the Hays County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hayscountytx.gov/492/District-Clerk-Records-Search-Copy-Reque, phone 512-393-7625).
Texas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3 a search, through the Texas Department of Public Safety. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Buda
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Texas Public Information Act the agency must answer within 10 business days, and it may charge the copy rates set by the Attorney General, plus labor for large requests.
- An arrest by the Buda police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at budatx.gov/111/Police (page title: Police | Buda, TX), phone 512-312-1001, 405 E. Loop Street, Building 200 Buda, TX 78610, Monday - Thursday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Hays County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 512-393-7800.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Hays County District Court, through the court records page at hayscountytx.gov, phone 512-393-7625.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Hays County guide covers every agency in the county: Hays County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Buda each year?
Buda reported 280 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Buda booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hays County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Buda?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Texas Public Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Buda?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Buda police for its own arrests, the Hays County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Buda website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.