Crawford was born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in Plano, Texas. His father, Chris, is a dermatologist, and his mother, Dana, is a teacher.[3] He has also a younger sister, Candice, who was Miss Missouri USA 2008.[4] He lived in Minnesota for four years. After high school, he moved to Malibu, California, to attend Pepperdine University, where he studied broadcast journalism. He struggled to identify a career path, vacillating among advertising, business, and communications majors. Midway through his second year, Crawford's mother encouraged him to pursue acting, calling it "a practical move" based on a career aptitude test he had taken in high school which revealed that he was best suited for a career in the performing arts. He was signed by the first talent agent that interviewed him. Crawford currently resides in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City with co-star Ed Westwick.