Texas & DFW Warrant Data: What the Public Records Show (2026)
Where Texas warrant data comes from
No single Texas agency publishes a statewide warrant count. Instead, data on court activity, failure to appear, and license holds is spread across four main public sources: the Texas Judicial Branch’s annual reports, the Department of Public Safety’s OmniBase program, local county sheriffs, and the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center.
Understanding what each source tracks — and what it does not — is essential before drawing any conclusions from the numbers. Warrant data in Texas is decentralized by design: each of the state’s 254 counties operates its own court system, and municipal courts within cities report separately. The result is that aggregate figures for “active warrants statewide” are not centrally compiled in a single public database.
| Source | What it reports | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) — Annual Statistical Report | Case filings and dispositions for all court levels by fiscal year (Sept–Aug); municipal and justice court activity reported by individual court and by county. Does not separately enumerate “warrants issued” but captures cases filed, disposed, and pending. | txcourts.gov/statistics/annual-statistical-reports/ |
| Texas Judicial Branch — Trial Court Activity Database | Interactive query tool for district, county, justice, and municipal court activity. Allows county-level and city-level filtering for specific case categories. | card.txcourts.gov/reportselection.aspx |
| Texas DPS — OmniBase / Failure to Appear & Pay Program | License-renewal holds placed on drivers who fail to appear or pay fines in municipal and justice courts under Texas Transportation Code Chapter 706. Over 1,000 jurisdictions report to OmniBase; holds show up on driver records at DPS. | dps.texas.gov — FTA/FTP Program · omnibase.com |
| County Sheriffs & Municipal Courts | Individual warrant execution sections maintain active warrant lists for their jurisdiction. Some publish searchable online rosters; others require a phone inquiry. Data is not aggregated statewide. | Each county’s official website (see our Courts & Counties directory for Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant). |
| Texas Municipal Courts Education Center (TMCEC) | Publishes educational materials on court procedures including the annual Great Texas Warrant Roundup. Not a primary statistical database but a reliable narrative source for roundup mechanics and history. | tmcec.com |
Each Texas court is an independent reporting unit. The OCA collects data annually from roughly 1,500 municipal courts and more than 800 justice of the peace courts, but the reports capture case categories — not a separate line for “warrants outstanding.” Active warrant totals must be assembled court by court from local records.
How many warrants are issued in Texas?
Texas does not publish an annual “warrants issued” figure, but the Texas Judicial Branch’s annual reports document court filings in the tens of millions statewide, the vast majority in municipal and justice courts where failure to appear warrants arise. OmniBase data shows the scale of unresolved cases in practical terms.
The closest public proxy for warrant volume is the OCA’s court-activity data combined with the OmniBase program’s license-hold figures. Two data points illustrate the scale:
- Total statewide court filings — FY 2024
- According to the Texas Judicial Branch’s FY 24 Annual Statistical Report for the Texas Judiciary (published by the Texas Office of Court Administration), the Texas court system recorded more than 7.9 million filings statewide in Fiscal Year 2024, with municipal court filings increasing approximately 17 percent over the prior year. The bulk of those filings originate in municipal and justice of the peace courts, which handle Class C misdemeanors — the offense category most commonly associated with failure-to-appear warrants.
- OmniBase license holds — as of late 2022
- According to a February 2023 issue brief by Texas Appleseed and the Texas Fair Defense Project (Texas’ Failure to Appear/Pay Program), approximately 994,000 Texans had active OmniBase holds as of November 1, 2022, preventing them from renewing their driver’s licenses until the underlying case was resolved. Reporting by Texas Standard and KERA News (July 2023) cited Texas DPS data showing more than 981,000 active holds, with more than 610,000 of those tied to licenses that had already expired. These figures represent only the subset of failure-to-appear cases reported to OmniBase by the more than 1,000 jurisdictions that participate in the program — not all Texas courts use OmniBase, so the total population of unresolved cases is higher.
- Final disposition rate
- OmniBase Services of Texas notes on its website that, historically, as few as 25 percent of warrants issued in participating jurisdictions reach final court disposition, with approximately 1.75 million offenders not reaching final disposition in those jurisdictions. This figure is offered by a private program administrator, not a government statistical agency, and should be read as indicative rather than authoritative.
What the data does not tell you: neither OCA reports nor OmniBase totals translate cleanly into “number of outstanding warrants today.” A single person can have multiple warrants; warrants can be recalled, resolved, or re-issued; and many municipal courts do not participate in OmniBase. The figures above document the known floor, not a ceiling.
Warrants across the DFW counties
The four core DFW counties — Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant — together hold roughly 6.5 million residents and include some of the most active municipal court systems in Texas. Each county operates its own warrant execution unit, and granular per-county warrant totals are not centrally reported.
The table below draws on U.S. Census Bureau population estimates and publicly available court-system data to provide context. Per-county warrant totals are not available from a single centralized public source; the figures below reflect population scale and documented program participation, not a count of active warrants.
| County | 2023 Pop. estimate | Court structure | Warrant lookup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas County | ~2,606,000 | Dallas Municipal Court (city of Dallas) is one of the largest in Texas; the county also has justice of the peace courts in each precinct and county courts at law handling misdemeanors. No countywide active-warrant total for Dallas County is published by a single named official source; the closest documented DFW-specific figure is the city of Dallas’s OmniBase failure-to-appear holds discussed below the table. | Dallas County Sheriff — Warrant Execution Section: (214) 761-9026 · Dallas Municipal Court: dallascityhall.com |
| Tarrant County | ~2,200,000 | Fort Worth Municipal Court and dozens of city municipal courts; Tarrant County justice of the peace courts in each precinct; county courts at law. Tarrant County JP Precinct 1 publishes an active-warrant roster updated monthly (as of May 2026, Precinct 1 listed no active warrants in that roster, illustrating how quickly the list changes). | Tarrant County Sheriff: tarrantcountytx.gov |
| Collin County | ~1,200,000 | Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, and more than a dozen other cities each operate independent municipal courts. Collin County justice courts serve unincorporated areas. No countywide active-warrant total is publicly available from a named official source. | Collin County Sheriff: collincountytx.gov |
| Denton County | ~1,000,000 | Denton, Lewisville, Flower Mound, and other cities operate municipal courts; Denton County justice courts cover precincts. No countywide active-warrant total is publicly available from a named official source. | Denton County Sheriff: dentoncounty.gov |
A documented DFW-specific figure: Texas Standard and KERA News reporting (July 2023) noted that the city of Dallas alone had more than 200,000 active OmniBase holds from its municipal court at the time of that reporting. That figure captures only OmniBase-enrolled failure-to-appear cases for Class C offenses — it excludes felony and Class A/B misdemeanor arrest warrants handled by higher courts, and it excludes cities that do not participate in OmniBase.
For any individual inquiry about whether a warrant exists in a specific DFW county, the most reliable method is to check directly with the court or sheriff’s office. Our guide to checking for a warrant covers each method step by step.
The Texas Warrant Roundup, by the numbers
Each year, roughly 300 Texas law enforcement agencies coordinate a weeks-long enforcement push targeting outstanding warrants, typically for unpaid traffic citations. The roundup runs in late February and early March and includes an amnesty grace period before active enforcement begins. The DFW region fields the largest share of participating agencies.
The Great Texas Warrant Roundup is an annual multi-agency enforcement operation organized informally through local court and law enforcement coordination, with the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center providing educational context. Key documented facts from public sources:
- Participating agencies statewide
- As of the 2026 roundup, reporting from Texas-warrant-roundup.info (a private legal-information site operated by Winocour Law, Dallas) cited approximately 300 local law enforcement agencies statewide joining the enforcement effort. A 2017 press announcement from Houston Municipal Court (reporting on the 2016 roundup) cited 300 participating jurisdictions for that year.
- DFW regional participation
- According to Dallas City News Hub (February 2017, reporting on the 2017 roundup), more than 150 DFW agencies participated in that year’s Great Texas Warrant Roundup, described at the time as the event’s 11th annual edition. A February 2026 Dallas City News Hub report confirmed more than 150 DFW agencies were again participating in that year’s roundup.
- Typical schedule
- The roundup historically follows a two-phase structure: a grace period (typically late February) during which courts actively encourage defendants to resolve outstanding cases without arrest, followed by an enforcement phase (typically early to mid-March) during which officers execute warrants at homes and workplaces. Rockport, TX’s official 2025 roundup announcement, for example, stated a grace period of February 16–28, 2025, followed by enforcement from March 1–16, 2025.
- Pre-roundup notice letters
- State records and press reporting confirm that courts mail notice letters to defendants with active warrants in the period before the enforcement phase begins, giving a final opportunity to resolve cases voluntarily. The number of letters mailed is not centrally reported.
- Resolution options during the grace period
- Courts typically offer payment plans, deferred disposition, community service, and driver safety school as resolution paths during the amnesty window. A 2024 Dallas Municipal Court announcement (February 22, 2024) offered to waive warrant fees in exchange for a blanket donation and guaranteed no-arrest processing for Class C misdemeanor defendants during the program period.
What the data does not include: no government agency publishes an official count of warrants executed or cases resolved statewide as a result of the roundup. The “approximately 150,000 warrants expected to be cleared” figure that circulates in legal-marketing websites does not appear to originate from a named official source and is not used here.
For a full explanation of how the roundup works, its history, and what to do if you receive a notice letter, see our dedicated page: Texas Warrant Roundup — what to expect and how to prepare.
What the data means if you have a warrant
The scale of Texas’s unresolved warrant and failure-to-appear caseload has one practical implication: courts and law enforcement have more than enough volume to justify active enforcement, and warrants do not resolve on their own. Understanding where your warrant sits in that system is the first step to addressing it.
A few takeaways from the data above that apply directly to someone with an outstanding warrant in the DFW area:
- Your warrant is in a system that tracks it. Even if the original ticket or court date was years ago, the OmniBase program means that a failure to appear may be blocking your ability to renew your driver’s license right now — whether or not you know about it. The OmniBase hold stays in place until the underlying case is resolved with the court that issued it.
- The roundup is not the only enforcement moment. Officers can execute a warrant at any time, not just during the annual roundup. The roundup is a period of heightened activity, but the legal authority to arrest on an outstanding warrant operates year-round. See what happens if you ignore a warrant.
- The grace period is real — and limited. Each year’s amnesty window gives defendants a genuine opportunity to resolve cases before arrest risk rises. But the window is short (typically two weeks) and the courts operate on a first-come basis during that period.
- You do not have to navigate this alone. A defense attorney can confirm whether a warrant exists, identify which court issued it, and in many cases arrange a resolution — including a walk-through bond for misdemeanor warrants — before enforcement reaches you. See our step-by-step guide to lifting a warrant.
The attorneys at L&L Law Group handle warrant matters in Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant county courts regularly. If you want a confidential review of your situation before taking any action, call (972) 370-5060 or use the contact form below.
Sources & methodology
This page synthesizes publicly available government data, academic research, and credible press reporting. No original research or proprietary data collection was performed. Every figure is attributed inline; readers are encouraged to verify figures against the primary source before relying on them.
This page does not claim to present original research. It is a synthesis of published public records, official government data portals, and named press reporting. The following sources were consulted and cited. Figures should be verified against the primary source before any reliance, as data changes and secondary reporting may not capture the most current figures.
- Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) / Texas Judicial Branch — Annual Statistical Reports. Official fiscal-year reports covering all Texas court levels. FY 2024 report: txcourts.gov/media/1461502/ar-statistical-fy24.pdf. FY 2023 report: txcourts.gov/media/1459429/ar-statistical-fy23.pdf. Index: txcourts.gov/statistics/annual-statistical-reports/.
- Texas Judicial Branch — Trial Court Activity Database. Interactive query tool for court-level case statistics. card.txcourts.gov/reportselection.aspx.
- Texas Department of Public Safety — Failure to Appear/Failure to Pay Program. Official program description and contact information. dps.texas.gov/section/driver-license/failure-appearfailure-pay-program.
- Texas Transportation Code, Chapter 706 — Denial of Renewal of License for Failure to Appear. Governing statute for the OmniBase program. statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.706.htm.
- OmniBase Services of Texas — About page. Program administrator’s description of scope and disposition-rate estimates. omnibase.com/about.html. (Private program administrator; figures should be verified against DPS or OCA data where possible.)
- Texas Appleseed and Texas Fair Defense Project — Texas’ Failure to Appear/Pay Program issue brief, February 2023. Documents OmniBase hold totals as of November 2022. texasappleseed.org — issue brief PDF.
- Christopher Connelly, KERA News / Texas Standard — “A Texas program pushes drivers to pay old tickets — and over 600,000 have lost their licenses,” July 2023. Press reporting on DPS OmniBase figures including the Dallas municipal court holds. texasstandard.org · keranews.org.
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts — Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant Counties, Texas. Population estimates used for per-county context. census.gov/quickfacts.
- City of Houston Municipal Court — press release, February 19, 2016. Documents 300 participating jurisdictions and approximately 300,000 active warrants in Houston’s court system as of January 2016. Used only for the Houston figure (not attributed to Dallas). houstontx.gov/courts/20160219.html.
- Dallas City News Hub — roundup participation reports, 2017 and 2026. Documents 150+ DFW agency participation for both the 2017 and 2026 roundups. dallascitynews.net (2017).
- Dallas City News Hub — Dallas Municipal Court Warrant Resolution announcement, February 22, 2024. Documents the grace-period dates and fee-waiver incentive for the 2024 roundup. dallascitynews.net (2024).
- City of Rockport, Texas — 2025 Warrant Roundup page. Official municipal announcement with grace-period and enforcement-phase dates for a representative 2025 roundup. rockporttx.gov/895/2025-Warrant-Roundup.
- Texas Municipal Courts Education Center (TMCEC). Educational and procedural context for the Great Texas Warrant Roundup and amnesty programs. tmcec.com.
Methodology note: Figures marked with a <!-- VERIFY --> comment in the page source are drawn from secondary or secondary-cited sources and have been clearly attributed inline. This page was compiled by reviewing each source directly; no original data collection was performed. All numbers should be verified against the cited primary source before any legal, financial, or personal reliance. This page will be reviewed and updated periodically as new OCA annual reports and official data are published.
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Frequently asked questions
How many outstanding warrants are there in Texas?
No single agency publishes a statewide count. Texas warrant data is decentralized across roughly 1,500 municipal courts, 800-plus justice of the peace courts, and 254 county sheriffs. The OmniBase program documents the closest available proxy: as of late 2022, Texas DPS data showed more than 981,000 active license-renewal holds tied to failure-to-appear cases — and that covers only the courts that participate in OmniBase, which is a subset of all Texas courts. The true number of outstanding warrants across all court types is higher, but not centrally tallied.
Which DFW county has the most outstanding warrants?
No official source publishes a per-county comparison of active warrants across the four DFW core counties. Dallas County — the most populous in the region — also has the largest municipal court system, and one 2023 press report documented more than 200,000 active OmniBase holds from Dallas Municipal Court alone. But that figure covers only Class C cases enrolled in OmniBase; it excludes higher-court warrants and cities that do not use the program. A meaningful comparison would require pulling active-warrant counts directly from each county sheriff and each municipal court in the region.
Is Texas warrant data public record?
Yes, generally. Warrants are court records, and court records in Texas are presumed public under the Texas Public Information Act unless a specific exception applies. Most county sheriffs maintain a searchable online wanted-persons list, and many municipal courts allow warrant inquiries by phone or online. However, “public” does not mean “in a single database” — each court and agency maintains its own records, and there is no statewide portal that consolidates all active warrants.
Where can I look up my own warrant?
Start with the county sheriff’s warrant lookup for the county where you think the case originated, then check the municipal court for the city involved if applicable. Our step-by-step guide covers each method for Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant counties. If you want to check without personally contacting law enforcement, a defense attorney can verify a warrant confidentially on your behalf.
When is the Texas Warrant Roundup?
The Great Texas Warrant Roundup typically occurs in late February and early March each year. The exact dates vary by jurisdiction: most offer a grace or amnesty period in the last two weeks of February, followed by active enforcement through mid-March. Courts send notice letters to defendants with active warrants before the enforcement phase begins. If you receive such a letter — or if you know you have an outstanding case — the grace period is the best window to resolve it without risking arrest.
This page is general legal information about Texas law and publicly available data, not legal advice for your specific situation. Statistics are sourced from named public records and press reporting; figures change over time and should be independently verified. Last reviewed June 20, 2026.