Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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 on October 1, 2026.
Hays County, Texas, has about 292,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hays County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and seven campus, state or other agencies. An arrest 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 each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Hays County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hays County
The Hays County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hays County. It reported 1,153 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Hays County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- San Marcos, 74,316 residents: 2,027 arrests reported for 2025.
- Kyle, 65,833 residents: 1,294 arrests reported for 2025.
- Buda, 16,090 residents: 280 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The Austin Police Department is listed by the FBI across three counties including Hays County, so its arrests are not broken out for Hays County here.
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 Each Agency Reports in Hays County
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.
- San Marcos: 2,027 for 2025, 1,634 for 2024, 1,575 for 2023, 2,103 for 2022, 2,313 for 2021 and 1,928 for 2020.
- Kyle: 1,294 for 2025, 1,158 for 2024, 1,236 for 2023, 1,053 for 2022, 1,116 for 2021 and 1,068 for 2020.
- Hays County Sheriff's Office: 1,153 for 2025, 1,015 for 2024, 917 for 2023, 1,473 for 2022, 1,445 for 2021 and 1,152 for 2020.
- Buda: 280 for 2025, 293 for 2024, 240 for 2023, 241 for 2022, 256 for 2021 and 402 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,754 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,754 in 2025 against 4,100 in 2024, up 16 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,389 arrests, against 3,107 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hays County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Hays County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists its inmates at inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/start.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Hays County
For Hays County 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 Hays County
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 Hays County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 512-393-7800.
- An arrest in San Marcos, Kyle or Buda: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the Hays County Constable's Precincts 1, 2, 3, 5 and 4, Texas State University at San Marcos or the Hays County Fire Marshal's Office: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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.
Cities in Hays County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the 11 cities in Hays County: San Marcos, Kyle and Buda. Dripping Springs, Wimberley, Woodcreek, Uhland, Niederwald, Mountain City, Bear Creek and Hays have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Hays County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Hays County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- San Marcos (74,316)
- Kyle (65,833)
- Buda (16,090)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hays County each year?
San Marcos reported 2,027 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,754 between them.
Where are people arrested in Hays County 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 Hays County?
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 Hays County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hays County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Hays County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.