HOUSTON -- Hate crimes in Texas fell to their lowest level in five years and Houston has the lowest per-capita rate of hate crimes among the nation’s 10 largest cities, according to FBI statistics.

There were 7,722 hate crimes motivated by prejudice against race, religion, sexual orientation or a disability in the United States in 2006, according to the FBI. That included 245 in Texas.

Those figures represent about a 7 percent increase nationally but a 6 percent drop in Texas.

“Houston has become much more diverse over the decades and seems to be more accustomed and respectful of differences,” said Jack Levin, a sociology professor in Boston who grew up in Houston.  “Friendships are crossing racial and ethnic lines like never before. The statistics reflect it.”

Houston Police Department hate crime coordinator Lt. John Silva acknowledged that the figures for Houston and Texas are low when compared nationally.

“Whether we have more harmony here, I don’t know,” Silva said.  “But people seem to be used to one another and playing together here.”

The data also shows that Latinos are increasingly becoming a target of hate crimes nationwide. Such crimes have increased by 35 percent nationally in the last four years, a rise experts said might be fueled by an intensifying debate over illegal immigration.

“We’re seeing a rising hatred for immigrants and expect that trend to continue because of Congress’ failure to pass any comprehensive immigration reform,” said Heidi Beirich, spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center.