Gatlinburg, TN is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns a D PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 36% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Gatlinburg, TN shows violent crime at 479.7 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,958.4 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 36% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade D from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
D safety grade
479.7/100K violent
2958.4/100K property
+36% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Gatlinburg, TN
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Gatlinburg reported 18 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 3,752. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
Comparable rate records
Gatlinburg's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Tennessee cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Gatlinburg's 479.7 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Harriman (480.3), Somerville (477.7), La Vergne (476.2), Tracy City (484.1). 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.
Position in the state cohort
Gatlinburg reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Tennessee cities
At 479.7 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Gatlinburg ranks 42 of 176 — above 134 of the 175 other Tennessee cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +60.8% against the cohort median of 298.4. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 572.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 479.7 in 2024 (-16.1%). The highest observed value was 718.3 in 2021 and the lowest 432.5 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 14.0% of the 129 Part I offenses reported in Gatlinburg for 2024, against a median of 18.9% across comparable Tennessee cities — a gap of 5.0 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.
Property counts dominate Gatlinburg'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.
Based on 18 reported violent incidents in a population of 3,752. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
Small-city offense counts above are voluntary UCR submissions, not neighbourhood advice. Year-to-year swings can look large when the population base is modest.
Gatlinburg's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 10.4 Census sq mi, Gatlinburg logged 10.6 property and 1.7 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Gatlinburg's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (70% of 129 offenses; mix index 5,135).
Violent offenses are only 14% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (10.4 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-16.5%
3541.5 → 2958.4/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+10.9%
432.5 → 479.7/100K
Property offenses lead Gatlinburg's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
111
2958.4
1711
Larceny-Theft
90
2398.7
-
Burglary
13
346.5
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
8
213.2
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
18
479.7
352
Aggravated Assault
14
373.1
-
Rape
4
106.6
-
Murder
0
0
-
Robbery
0
0
-
Gatlinburg Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Gatlinburg 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 averagesRead the chart as a list
Gatlinburg: 480 violent, 2958 property per 100,000 (grade D)
Etowah: 161 violent, 403 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Dandridge: 216 violent, 1160 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Unicoi: 131 violent, 681 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Camden: 81 violent, 1112 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Oneida: 366 violent, 1386 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Jasper: 248 violent, 607 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Centerville: 112 violent, 391 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Somerville: 478 violent, 983 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Gatlinburg Police Department
Reporting agency for Gatlinburg NIBRS-participating
Gatlinburg Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Gatlinburg's 129 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 Gatlinburg in population. Their populations run from 3,559 to 3,823, against 3,752 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Gatlinburg reported 18 violent crimes and 111 property crimes, for a total of 129 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Gatlinburg?
From 2023 to 2024, Gatlinburg's violent crime rate increased by 10.9%, and the property crime rate decreased by 16.5%.
What is the most common crime in Gatlinburg?
The most common crime type in Gatlinburg is larceny-theft, accounting for 69.8% of all reported crimes (90 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Gatlinburg is sourced from FBI UCR Table 8 for 2024; rates use that row's population.
Small-city rows use the same per-100,000 formula; a few unreported years can leave gaps in the trend table. Verify the agency's submission on FBI.gov UCR.
Disclaimer (small city): UCR counts here are informational only. They are not a victimization probability. Source: FBI UCR Program.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Gatlinburg, TN rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.