State crime profile · 2024

Tennessee Crime Rates: Safest & Most Dangerous Cities

Crime data for 176 cities and 92 counties in Tennessee (TN), ranked safest to most dangerous from 412 reporting agencies.

601.6
Violent / 100K
2,057.9
Property / 100K
176
Cities
92
Counties

The verdict

Tennessee's 601.6 violent crimes per 100,000 runs 71% above the U.S. average, making it among the highest-crime states in the country.

601.6
violent crimes per 100K
+71%
vs. the U.S. average
48th
safest of 51 states & DC
2,057.9
property crimes per 100K

How safe is Tennessee? FBI UCR data snapshot

Tennessee (TN) reported 43,481 violent crimes and 148,740 property crimes in 2024, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program submissions from 412 law enforcement agencies. That translates to a statewide violent crime rate of 601.6 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2057.9 per 100,000 against a reporting population of 7,227,750. The PlainCrime dataset indexes 176 Tennessee cities and 92 counties, each with their own detail pages and local crime figures drawn from FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10.

The FBI's state-level summary reports violent and property crime as aggregate totals rather than broken out by individual offense type (murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson). For an offense-by-offense breakdown, see the individual city and county pages for Tennessee below, which draw on FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10 and do report each offense type separately.

Across 11 years of state-level UCR history (2014–2024), the violent crime rate moved from 608.4 to 601.6 per 100,000, a decline of 1.1%. City-level detail pages within Tennessee include safety grades (A+ to F), benchmarks against national averages, per-capita risk estimates, and multi-year trend tables for users comparing specific jurisdictions. All figures above are drawn from FBI UCR 2024 submissions; reporting completeness varies by agency, and the FBI periodically restates prior-year figures as late submissions arrive.

State figures roll up the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) submissions from local and county agencies across the state, then express them per 100,000 residents so one state can be compared with another. Statewide averages hide a great deal of variation: a handful of large cities often account for much of a state's reported violent crime, while most of its land area and population live with markedly lower rates. Reporting completeness also differs between states, so a year-over-year change can reflect which agencies filed data as much as any real shift on the ground. Read a state number as the broad backdrop, then drill into the city and county pages for the local detail that actually shapes day-to-day decisions.

Violent Crime Rate
601.6/100K
Property Crime Rate
2057.9/100K
Population
7,227,750
Data Year
2024

How Tennessee ranks nationally

Tennessee vs. every U.S. state

Violent crime per 100,000 residents, FBI UCR 2024. Lower is safer.

602 6th percentile among 51 U.S. states

TN 0 1,100+ every state & DC, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band of values; taller bars hold more U.S. states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · 2024

Safest Cities

Top 50 by lowest violent crime rate

Most Dangerous Cities

Top 50 by highest violent crime rate

Crime Trends

Multi-year charts & analysis

Year Population Violent Crime Rate Property Crime Rate
2024 7,227,750 43,481 601.6 148,740 2057.9
2023 7,126,489 45,901 644.1 170,713 2395.5
2022 7,051,339 44,900 636.8 165,143 2342
2021 6,975,218 46,927 672.8 158,047 2265.8
2020 6,886,834 46,976 682.1 174,437 2532.9
2019 6,829,174 41,367 605.7 183,419 2685.8
2018 6,770,010 42,831 632.7 194,274 2869.6
2017 6,715,984 44,022 655.5 199,158 2965.4
2016 6,651,194 42,674 641.6 192,873 2899.8
2015 6,600,299 40,811 618.3 196,950 2984
2014 6,549,352 39,843 608.4 201,042 3069.6

Cities in Tennessee

Safest cities in Tennessee

Cities with 25,000+ residents, lowest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.

/100K

What this shows Brentwood is the safest sizeable city in Tennessee, at 57.5 violent crimes per 100,000.

Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program As of 2024

Highest violent-crime cities in Tennessee

Cities with 25,000+ residents, highest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.

/100K

What this shows Memphis reports the highest big-city violent-crime rate in Tennessee, at 2,501.3 per 100,000.

Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program As of 2024
Tennessee's largest cities, violent vs. property crime. X axis violent crime per 100K, Y axis property crime per 100K, split by the national averages. 14 cities; the anchor is ringed. Tennessee's largest cities, violent vs. property crime 111 2,701 Violent crime per 100K → 449 7,451 Property crime per 100K → Metropolitan Na… Memphis Knoxville Chattanooga SAFEST HIGHEST CRIME Safety grade A / B C D / F
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are Tennessee's statewide averages · the four largest cities are labeled
City Population Violent / 100K Grade
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department 698,987 1,124.1 F
Memphis 613,207 2,501.3 F
Knoxville 200,457 740.3 F
Chattanooga 188,894 823.7 F
Clarksville 185,349 410 C
Murfreesboro 169,520 420 C
Franklin 90,077 132.1 A
Johnson City 74,093 402.2 C
Jackson 68,286 950.4 F
Hendersonville 64,126 123.2 A
Spring Hill 59,921 163.5 A
Smyrna 58,791 279 C
Kingsport 57,138 441 D
Bartlett 55,494 250.5 B
Gallatin 52,346 208.2 B
Lebanon 51,653 344.6 C
Collierville 51,312 150.1 B
Cleveland 49,482 452.7 D
Columbia 49,374 573.2 F
Brentwood 45,208 57.5 A
Mount Juliet 44,049 158.9 A
Germantown 39,938 167.8 B
La Vergne 39,897 476.2 D
Cookeville 37,248 292.6 C
Oak Ridge 34,071 290.6 B
Morristown 32,660 765.5 F
Maryville 32,583 132 A
Bristol 28,082 363.2 C
Shelbyville 25,655 432.7 C
East Ridge 21,886 411.2 C
Tullahoma 21,208 391.4 C
Springfield 19,729 390.3 C
Sevierville 18,084 436.9 D
Goodlettsville 17,312 127.1 A
Dickson 16,980 465.3 D
White House 16,177 234.9 B
Nolensville 15,930 50.2 A+
Dyersburg 15,917 1,256.5 F
Greeneville 15,866 258.4 C
Athens 14,949 622.1 F
Alcoa 14,270 385.4 C
Elizabethton 14,228 147.6 B
McMinnville 13,787 638.3 F
Portland 13,703 372.2 C
Manchester 13,626 653.2 F
Lewisburg 13,406 716.1 F
Soddy-Daisy 13,281 165.7 A
Crossville 12,842 646.3 F
Lenoir City 12,354 348.1 C
Red Bank 12,113 396.3 C
Lawrenceburg 12,110 322 C
Millington 11,785 602.5 F
Collegedale 11,599 17.2 A+
Martin 11,059 298.4 B
Oakland 11,026 72.6 A
Union City 10,887 698.1 F
Atoka 10,777 176.3 A
Fairview 10,496 123.9 A
Clinton 10,430 450.6 D
Paris 10,360 164.1 B
Winchester 10,177 373.4 C
Brownsville 9,264 1,036.3 F
Signal Mountain 8,935 89.5 A
Jefferson City 8,877 292.9 C
Covington 8,537 1,112.8 F
Milan 8,331 564.2 D
Pulaski 8,243 461 D
Lexington 8,000 412.5 C
Humboldt 7,828 574.9 D
Ripley 7,575 1,742.6 F
Dayton 7,465 241.1 B
Savannah 7,344 694.4 F
Church Hill 7,311 27.4 A+
La Follette 7,187 320 B
Fayetteville 7,042 1,150.2 F
Newport 7,010 684.7 F
Greenbrier 6,949 158.3 A
Munford 6,901 449.2 C
Loudon 6,876 160 A
Sweetwater 6,696 343.5 C
Jonesborough 6,684 149.6 B
Henderson 6,441 186.3 A
Pigeon Forge 6,344 788.1 F
Kingston 6,306 126.9 A
Millersville 6,295 238.3 B
Harriman 6,246 480.3 F
Dunlap 5,959 167.8 B
Lafayette 5,923 118.2 B
Ashland City 5,728 104.7 A
Pleasant View 5,709 35 A+
Rockwood 5,698 579.2 F
Medina 5,654 176.9 A
McKenzie 5,603 285.6 B
Smithville 5,514 399 C
Madisonville 5,379 371.8 C
Bolivar 5,119 1,269.8 F
Sparta 4,887 122.8 B
Mount Pleasant 4,830 269.2 B
Coopertown 4,770 125.8 A
Rogersville 4,623 151.4 B
Showing the 100 largest of 176 reporting cities. Browse all 176 cities → Or see the safest and most dangerous rankings.

Counties in Tennessee

Largest counties in Tennessee, violent crime per 100K

Top 8 counties by population, violent crime per 100,000 residents. Hover a bar for the exact rate.

/100K
Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program As of 2024

Nearby States

Compare Tennessee with neighboring states, or use the compare tool for side-by-side jurisdiction benchmarking.

Primary source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States annual release. State-level trends cross-check against the FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API.

Population figures for rate calculations reference U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI-reported populations are unavailable. Verify with Census.gov QuickFacts.

Using PlainCrime rankings responsibly

Crime rankings are most useful when they sit alongside other community-quality signals, school performance, housing affordability, employment, and access to healthcare. A safer-than-average violent-crime rate in a small commuter suburb does not by itself make a city a better place to live; it is one data point among many. Likewise, a higher-than-average rate in a dense urban center may reflect that residents and visitors interact with police more often, not that the city is necessarily unsafe for its residents. We provide cross-links from each city profile to neighboring jurisdictions, state averages, and national benchmarks so you can read each number in context rather than in isolation.

For news outlets, researchers, and concerned residents who cite our rankings, the most defensible approach is to quote the per-100,000 rate, the reporting year, and the source agency in the same sentence. Avoid framing crime statistics as predictive, UCR data describes what was reported in a past year, not what will happen tomorrow. Where possible, pair our rankings with longitudinal trend data on the relevant city's profile page to show whether the rate is moving up, holding steady, or falling year over year.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.