Counting Nearby Points in ArcMap

Question

I have two point layers, A and B. For every point in layer A, I want to count how many points from layer B lie within a 1-mile radius, and store that count in a new column of layer A's attribute table.

For context:

I am analyzing home values, and as part of this am learning to use GIS to add data about neighborhood attributes to the data about homes. The relevant layers here are Home_Parcels (a point layer where each point represents a home) and COBRA_2010 (where each point represents a crime).

The layers are large:
36,000 points in COBRA_2010
200,000 points in Home_Parcels

So if this would be too computationally intense, I can use a layer where points represent Census Blocks instead of Home_Parcels, which would bring me down to a couple thousand points for that layer.

Answer 1

I'm not sure if this will work with so many features, but you could create a 1 mile buffer around each A point, storing a unique ID to link each buffer back to its associated point. Then, count the intersections of each buffer with B points. Then recombine the A buffers back to the A points using the unique ID.