How has crime changed in Tennessee since 1985?

Police in Tennessee reported about 499 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2025 (U.S.: 329), down from a high of 909 in 1993, and 1,661 property crimes in 2025 (U.S.: 1,552), down from a high of 5,382 in 1991. There's no figure for 1992 and 1994–1997, when police departments covering fewer than 3 in 4 of its people reported a full year. Rates count only the agencies that reported. Choose another state to compare.

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Source
FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program
License
Public domain (U.S. government work); source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program
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Chartly. “How has crime changed in your state since 1985?” Chart. Data: FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend (data as of December 31, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/crime-rates-by-state-since-1985 (accessed October 10, 2026).

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This table shows Tennessee's rates and the U.S. rates each year; the download has the state the chart opens with.

Crimes per 100,000 people in Tennessee and the U.S., each year
Year Violent, Tennessee Violent, U.S. Property, Tennessee Property, U.S.
1985 523.2 570.3 4,017.2 4,780.0
1986 613.8 633.6 4,502.6 5,015.3
1987 607.3 624.9 4,656.1 5,090.1
1988 608.5 630.2 4,413.9 5,045.9
1989 628.6 680.5 4,449.7 5,211.5
1990 796.4 749.8 5,039.2 5,227.0
1991 867.5 798.1 5,381.9 5,388.4
1992 – 785.4 – 5,089.3
1993 908.6 764.1 5,187.9 4,814.1
1994 – 740.4 – 4,752.4
1995 – 720.6 – 4,796.6
1996 – 658.8 – 4,553.0
1997 – 644.9 – 4,494.7
1998 698.9 603.8 4,196.1 4,212.6
1999 727.4 545.8 4,186.0 3,872.6
2000 710.7 534.4 4,214.8 3,751.7
2001 746.0 529.5 4,435.2 3,801.5
2002 718.5 512.9 4,341.1 3,737.7
2003 691.2 493.7 4,414.6 3,704.0
2004 696.4 478.6 4,345.5 3,599.4
2005 755.4 483.0 4,304.4 3,518.3
2006 762.4 486.9 4,160.4 3,397.1
2007 754.5 477.9 4,114.8 3,316.1
2008 721.2 463.7 4,047.8 3,252.3
2009 666.0 436.8 3,786.3 3,076.7
2010 612.9 408.1 3,685.5 2,963.4
2011 607.9 390.1 3,623.7 2,925.7
2012 637.3 390.7 3,390.5 2,881.3
2013 583.3 378.2 3,198.5 2,759.3
2014 608.4 373.7 3,069.7 2,591.8
2015 618.5 384.6 2,984.7 2,495.2
2016 641.7 399.5 2,900.2 2,469.1
2017 655.6 397.5 2,965.4 2,372.4
2018 632.8 384.8 2,869.5 2,206.8
2019 605.7 381.0 2,685.8 2,109.0
2020 682.2 399.3 2,532.9 1,955.3
2021 676.1 360.9 2,276.0 1,762.2
2022 639.2 398.2 2,350.2 1,998.5
2023 646.4 385.6 2,403.2 1,950.5
2024 604.4 363.4 2,066.7 1,766.8
2025 498.8 329.3 1,661.3 1,552.1

Crimes per 100,000 people, as police reported them to the FBI.

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