Cookeville, TN carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 17% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Cookeville, TN shows violent crime at 292.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,661.8 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 17% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
292.6/100K violent
1661.8/100K property
-17% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Cookeville, TN
Comparable rate records
Cookeville's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Tennessee cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Cookeville's 292.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Jefferson City (292.9), Oak Ridge (290.6), Tazewell (297.0), Martin (298.4). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 15.0% of the 728 Part I offenses reported in Cookeville for 2024, against a median of 18.9% across comparable Tennessee cities — a gap of 3.9 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 267.7 per 100,000 in 2020 to 292.6 in 2024 (+9.3%). The highest observed value was 360.9 in 2021 and the lowest 240.9 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Cookeville sits mid-pack among comparable Tennessee cities
At 292.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Cookeville ranks 92 of 176 — above 84 of the 175 other Tennessee cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -3.4% against the cohort median of 302.8. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Property counts dominate Cookeville's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Cookeville's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 35.8 Census sq mi, Cookeville logged 17.3 property and 3 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Cookeville's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (69% of 728 offenses; mix index 5,065).
Violent offenses are only 15% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (35.8 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Both rates shifted (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+21.5%
240.9 → 292.6/100K
Property Crime Rate
-20.3%
2086 → 1661.8/100K
Property offenses lead Cookeville's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs TN
Property Crime
619
1661.8
2057.9
Larceny-Theft
504
1353.1
-
Burglary
64
171.8
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
51
136.9
-
Arson
6
16.1
-
Violent Crime
109
292.6
601.6
Aggravated Assault
85
228.2
-
Rape
21
56.4
-
Robbery
3
8.1
-
Murder
0
0
-
Cookeville Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Cookeville property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Cookeville Police Department
Reporting agency for Cookeville NIBRS-participating
Cookeville Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Cookeville's 728 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Tennessee
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Tennessee cities closest to Cookeville in population. Their populations run from 28,082 to 45,208, against 37,248 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Cookeville reported 109 violent crimes and 619 property crimes, for a total of 728 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Cookeville?
From 2023 to 2024, Cookeville's violent crime rate increased by 21.5%, and the property crime rate decreased by 20.3%.
What is the most common crime in Cookeville?
The most common crime type in Cookeville is larceny-theft, accounting for 69.2% of all reported crimes (504 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Cookeville figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Cookeville, TN rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.