Human trafficking in Texas
Trafficking numbers get repeated more than they get checked. Here is what is actually known about human trafficking in Texas — what has been counted, what has only been estimated, and the difference between the two — sourced and dated throughout.
What has actually been counted, through one national hotline
10,997
Trafficking cases identified in Texas since 2007, involving 24,876 victims, per the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
1,360
Cases identified in Texas in 2024 alone, involving 2,439 victims, per the same hotline data.
640 / 380 / 174
Of 2024 cases with a type reported: sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and both, respectively. Among victims with sex reported, 905 were female and 322 male.
These figures are a real and useful floor — every one of them is a case someone reported and a hotline recorded. But a hotline can only count what reaches it. It is not a survey of the state, and it should not be read as the full scale of trafficking in Texas — only as the part of it that has surfaced.
The number you've probably heard is a decade-old model, not a count
The figure that circulates most often about trafficking in Texas — that roughly 313,000 people are victims statewide — did not come from counting anyone. It came from a single study: the University of Texas at Austin's Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA) built a statistical model, using research gathered in 2014–2016, to estimate that Texas had about 79,000 minor and youth sex-trafficking victims and about 234,000 adult labor-trafficking victims, for a combined estimate near 313,000 (UT Austin IDVSA, 2016).
This is the only statewide study Texas has produced, and it is now roughly a decade old. It has not been repeated or updated since. It is a modeled estimate built from surveys and statistical extrapolation — a considered, methodologically serious attempt to size an almost entirely hidden problem — but it is not a headcount, and treating it as one overstates what is actually known. Read it as the best available approximation from 2016, not as a current census.
Arrests have risen. Convictions have not kept pace.
Texas trafficking arrests climbed from 39 in fiscal year 2007 to 185 in fiscal year 2020, according to the Texas Office of the Attorney General. Convictions have not moved with them: in that same fiscal year 2020, only 28 convictions were recorded against 185 arrests.
That gap — more people arrested, only a small fraction ever convicted — is one of the clearest, best-documented problems in how Texas responds to trafficking. It points to real obstacles: cases that are difficult to build, victims who are difficult or dangerous to keep engaged through a prosecution, and a crime built specifically around silence. Whatever the causes, the pattern itself is not in dispute.
Whatever the true number is, the women behind it need somewhere to land
The honest summary of this page is narrower than the headlines: Texas has counted nearly 11,000 trafficking cases since 2007 through one hotline, produced one decade-old statewide estimate suggesting the true scale is far larger, and still convicts only a small fraction of the people it arrests. None of that requires an inflated number to matter. A woman who has been trafficked needs a program built around trauma, not around a statistic — which is exactly what a residential, women-only, year-long model is designed to provide. See how Mercy Manor works with trafficking survivors specifically.
Trafficking rarely arrives on its own. It travels alongside the national picture for women and girls, and it overlaps heavily with addiction and time spent in foster care. A woman in front of you may be carrying more than one of these at once. See the fuller state of the need.
About $6,000 funds a Texas woman's entire year at Mercy Manor; $500 a month covers her room, food, counseling, and case management.
Give a Texas woman her yearEvery figure on this page, and where it came from
- National Human Trafficking Hotline, Texas Statistics (cumulative since 2007, and 2024 data)
- University of Texas at Austin, Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA), Human Trafficking by the Numbers (2016 modeled estimate, based on 2014–2016 research)
- Texas Office of the Attorney General, Texas Statistics on Human Trafficking (FY2007–FY2020)
Last reviewed: July 2026. The 313,000 prevalence figure and its related cost estimates are a decade-old model from the only statewide study Texas has produced, not a current count — we flag this every place the figure appears, and we will update this page if a newer statewide study is published.
Frequently asked questions
How many human trafficking cases have been identified in Texas?
Since 2007, 10,997 cases and 24,876 victims have been identified in Texas through the National Human Trafficking Hotline. In 2024 alone, 1,360 cases and 2,439 victims were identified — among victims with sex reported, 905 were female and 322 male, and among cases with type reported, 640 were sex trafficking, 380 labor trafficking, and 174 both. These are identified cases reported to one hotline, not a count of everyone trafficked in the state.
Is it true that 313,000 people are trafficked in Texas?
That figure comes from a single statewide study — the only one Texas has produced — and it is a modeled prevalence estimate, not a count. The University of Texas at Austin's Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault estimated in 2016, using 2014–2016 research, that roughly 313,000 people were trafficking victims in Texas, including about 79,000 minor and youth sex-trafficking victims and about 234,000 adult labor-trafficking victims. The estimate is now roughly a decade old and has not been repeated or updated since.
Do trafficking arrests in Texas lead to convictions?
Not often enough. Texas trafficking arrests rose from 39 in FY2007 to 185 in FY2020, per the Texas Attorney General's office, but convictions have stayed a small fraction of that — 28 in FY2020. The gap between an arrest and a conviction is one of the clearest, best-documented problems in how Texas responds to trafficking.
What does trafficking cost, beyond the harm to victims?
The same 2016 UT Austin study modeled roughly $6.5 billion in lifetime costs to care for minor and youth sex-trafficking victims in Texas, and estimated about $600 million a year extracted from labor-trafficking victims. Both are modeled 2016 estimates from that one study, not current figures, and should be read as dated illustrations of scale rather than up-to-date accounting.