The 10 Safest Cities In Tennessee For 2025

The safest cities in Tennessee are Nolensville and Church Hill for 2025 using Saturday Night Science.

Tennessee is best known as The Volunteer State, but many are familiar with other fun facts; like, the state has some of the safest places to call home.

Whether you're walkin' in Memphis, taking in a show at Pigeon Forge's Dollywood, or catching up with Elvis in Graceland, Tennessee knows how to keep its residents safe.

Moreover, if you live in one of Tennessee's safest places, you'll experience some of the southeast's tastiest BBQ and toe-tapping country music. Heck, there's a reason notables like Alan Jackson, Justin Timberlake, and Billy Ray Cyrus have set up shop in places like Nashville, Franklin, and Brentwood: these places are some of Tennessee's safest.

How did we determine the safest places to live in Tennessee? We looked at the FBI data on violent and property crimes in places with over 5,000 residents.

Now, it wouldn't be right if we didn't mention that Tennessee is ranked the 46th safest state in the country. So, it's super important to know how to navigate the safest places to live when choosing Tennessee as your home.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Table

Here are the 10 safest cities to live in Tennessee for 2025:

  1. Nolensville (Homes For Sale)
  2. Church Hill (Homes For Sale)
  3. Pleasant View (Homes For Sale)
  4. Signal Mountain (Homes For Sale)
  5. Kingston (Homes For Sale)
  6. Oakland (Homes For Sale)
  7. Fairview (Homes For Sale)
  8. Collegedale (Homes For Sale)
  9. Brentwood (Homes For Sale)
  10. Maryville (Homes For Sale)
Safest Cities In Tennessee Map

So, what city is the safest place to live in Tennessee for 2025? According to the most recent FBI data, the safest place to live in Tennessee is Nolensville. It's not surprising considering Nolensville scored a 9/10 SnackAbility safety score with an emphasis on safety.

Check out the rest of our safe Tennessee cities to see how your city ranked. And if you don't find your favorite there, head to the bottom for a table of every place in Tennessee.

For more reading on safe places to live in and around Tennessee, check out:

The 10 Safest Cities In Tennessee For 2025

Nolensville, TN
Source: Wikipedia User Skye Marthaler | CC BY-SA 3.0

Population: 15,930
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 50 (fourth safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 207 (safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Nolensville: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
9.5
/10

Christopher Nolen would be happy to hear that the town with his namesake ranks as the safest in Tennessee.

Oh? The city isn't named after Christopher Nolen?

Back to reality, Nolensville has markedly improved in crime rates this year, jumping into the top ten. And people have noticed that the median home costs a cool 496500. You also have to be incredibly smart to live here as a staggering 63% of the population has completed at least a bachelor's -- compared to a 33% national average.

Smart, safe, and rich. People in Nolensville have it made.

Church Hill, TN
Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

Population: 7,311
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 27 (second safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 273 (third safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Church Hill: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
8
/10

Take me to church.. err.. Take me to Church Hill -- the safest place to live in Tennessee for 2025 according to the most recent FBI data.

Taking the top spot is a big deal for this little town as it jumped up five places over the years to claim the altar of safety. It had the second safest violent crime rate. Property crime rates are 7x better than the state average.

Located in the northeast portion of the state, Church Hill offers a low cost of living, low tax rate and booming real estate market which probably all lead to a lower crime rate. That's the kind of place I'd move to in a heartbeat.

Population: 5,709
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 35 (third safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 297 (fourth safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Pleasant View: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
5
/10
Signal Mountain, TN
Source: Wikipedia User Sam Poss | CC BY-SA 4.0

Population: 8,935
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 89 (seventh safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 436 (sixth safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Signal Mountain: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
10
/10

Signal Mountain is another constant year after year on our lists of great Tennessee cities and this year it ranks in the top three for safety.

The city still boasts extremely low violent and property crime rates.

The Chattanooga suburb also scored a coveted 10 / 10 on our SnackAbility score which is reserved for the top 5% of places to live around the country. So you will be safe and sound living in Signal Mountain.

Kingston, TN
Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | GFDL

Population: 6,306
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 126 (12th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 301 (fifth safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Kingston: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
5
/10

Kingston, Tennessee, sits along I-40, on the road between Nashville and Knoxville. It's more than just a road-trip stopover, however. The community also represents an amazing place to live, the 5 safest hometown in the state.

Kingston is built along the shores of Watts Bar Lake, a reservoir formed by the confluence of several rivers. This gives residents access to lots of outdoor activities. Economically, the town sports a median income of $65508 and an unemployment rate of 6.04.

Safety, though, remains the biggest selling point for the town. Kingston experienced just 19 property crimes and 8 violent crimes during a year. Put together in a town of 6,306 inhabitants, that leads to an overall crime rate of 428/100k people.

Oakland, TN
Source: Flickr User dsyzdek | CC BY 2.0

Population: 11,026
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 72 (sixth safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 507 (13th safest)
Murders: 1
Murders Per 100k: 9
More on Oakland: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
6
/10

O-Town, as I'm sure no one calls it, ranks as the sixth safest city in Tennessee for 2025.

Located in the southwest corner of the state, the city has one of the lowest property crime rates around The Volunteer state. There's so little petty crime that we bet most people don't have anything to confess to on Sunday mornings.

The city probably has such little crime because it has become wise in its old age -- it's over 100 years old. When you're that old, you realize that there's more to life than coveting your neighbor's possessions.

Fairview, TN
Source: Wikipedia User Skye Marthaler | CC BY-SA 3.0

Population: 10,496
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 123 (11th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 466 (tenth safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Fairview: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
5
/10

Fairview, located in Williamson County and part of the Nashville metro area, upholds a reputation for safety with the title of the seventh safest city in Tennessee.

It ranks 11th safest in violent crime and 31st safest in murder rates. It also holds the tenth safest spot in property crime. These figures highlight Fairview's dedication to being a secure location within Tennessee, with a population of 10,496.

Collegedale, TN
Source: Wikipedia User Graham Patton | CC BY-SA 4.0

Population: 11,599
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 17 (safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 827 (24th safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Collegedale: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
8
/10

Collegedale clocks in as the eighth safest place in Tennessee. But it takes the cake as the city with the lowest violent crime rate in the state by a good clip. The suburb of Chattanooga had no murders and basically no other violent crimes in the last reporting year. It's so safe that I venture I could drop my son off for day care at a random citizen's door tomorrow morning and would come back to find him a man of letters at age three.

Collegedale is located in the south eastern portion of the state.

Brentwood, TN
Source: Wikipedia User Skye Marthaler | CC BY-SA 3.0

Population: 45,208
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 57 (fifth safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 729 (21st safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Brentwood: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
7.5
/10

Brentwood is no stranger to our lists as I remember the name of the town from some of the earliest rankings I wrote over five years ago. This year it maintained a solid sixth place ranking for safety in Tennessee.

Like last year, violent crimes are basically a none issue in the town and property crime is so rare that no one steals candy from babies here. A suburb of Nashville, Brentwood also ranks as the second best and second richest city in Tennessee for 2025. So it sounds like a great place to live if you can afford to call it home.

Maryville, TN
Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

Population: 32,583
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 131 (14th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 506 (12th safest)
Murders: 0
Murders Per 100k: 0
More on Maryville: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility
8.5
/10

Methodology: How we calculated the safest cities in Tennessee for 2025

Safest Cities in Tennessee Graph

While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in Tennessee are the safest, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI's most recent crime report in Tennessee.

Specifically, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of property and violent crimes in each city annually. We used two criteria:

  • Violent crimes per capita (murders, assaults, rapes, armed robberies)
  • Property crimes per capita (thefts, burglaries, motor vehicle thefts)

For example, there were 41 crimes committed in Nolensville, with a reported population of 15,930. That means the number of crimes per capita is 0.0026, which translates into a 1 in 388 chance of being the victim of a crime.

We only looked at Tennessee cities that have populations of more than 5,000. This filter left us with 96 of the biggest cities in Tennessee to rank.

We ranked each city for each criterion from 1 to 96 where 1 in any particular category is the safest.

Next, we averaged each place's two criteria to create a Safety Index. We crowned the place with the lowest overall Safety Score, "The Safest Place In Tennessee," with any ties going to the bigger city.

The safest city in Tennessee, based on our criteria, is Nolensville. The most dangerous city in Tennessee? Memphis, where residents had a 1 in 10 chance of being the victim of a crime.

This article has been update for 2025. This report marks our tenth time ranking the safest places to live in Tennessee. All the data comes from the FBI's Crime In The USA 2024 report.

Worst Places To Live In Tennessee

Summary: The Safest Cities In The Volunteer State

Looking at the data, you can tell that Nolensville is as safe as they come in Tennessee, according to science and data.

But as most Tennessee residents would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So just make sure you're informed ahead of time.

The safest places in Tennessee are .

Here's a look at the most dangerous cities in Tennessee according to the data:

  1. Memphis
  2. Dyersburg
  3. Nashville
For more reading, check out:

Where Are The 10 Safest Cities In Tennessee For 2025?

Rank City Population Violent Crimes Per 100k Property Crimes Per 100k Murders Per 100k Murders
1 Nolensville, TN 15,930 50 207 0 0
2 Church Hill, TN 7,311 27 273 0 0
3 Pleasant View, TN 5,709 35 297 0 0
4 Signal Mountain, TN 8,935 89 436 0 0
5 Kingston, TN 6,306 126 301 0 0
6 Oakland, TN 11,026 72 507 9 1
7 Fairview, TN 10,496 123 466 0 0
8 Collegedale, TN 11,599 17 827 0 0
9 Brentwood, TN 45,208 57 729 0 0
10 Maryville, TN 32,583 131 506 0 0
11 Greenbrier, TN 6,949 158 460 0 0
12 Hendersonville, TN 64,126 123 714 3 2
13 Medina, TN 5,654 176 229 0 0
14 Spring Hill, TN 59,921 163 498 0 0
15 Loudon, TN 6,876 159 538 0 0
16 Goodlettsville, TN 17,312 127 895 5 1
17 Soddy-Daisy, TN 13,281 165 594 0 0
18 Atoka, TN 10,777 176 519 0 0
19 Millersville, TN 6,295 238 460 0 0
20 Ashland City, TN 5,728 104 1,099 0 0
21 Franklin, TN 90,077 132 942 1 1
22 Henderson, TN 6,441 186 589 0 0
23 Mount Juliet, TN 44,049 158 964 0 0
24 Gallatin, TN 52,346 208 748 1 1
25 White House, TN 16,177 234 735 0 0
26 Collierville, TN 51,312 150 1,268 0 0
27 Portland, TN 13,703 372 459 0 0
28 Mckenzie, TN 5,603 285 713 0 0
29 Jonesborough, TN 6,684 149 1,331 0 0
30 Dunlap, TN 5,959 167 1,040 0 0
31 Germantown, TN 39,938 167 1,176 0 0
32 Elizabethton, TN 14,228 147 1,560 0 0
33 Lafayette, TN 5,923 118 1,722 0 0
34 La Follette, TN 7,187 320 876 0 0
35 Bartlett, TN 55,494 250 1,283 0 0
36 Martin, TN 11,059 298 1,085 0 0
37 Lebanon, TN 51,653 344 1,033 5 3
38 Oak Ridge, TN 34,071 290 1,276 0 0
39 Paris, TN 10,360 164 1,689 0 0
40 Dayton, TN 7,465 241 1,433 0 0
41 Springfield, TN 19,729 390 917 25 5
42 Munford, TN 6,901 449 623 14 1
43 Sweetwater, TN 6,696 343 1,373 14 1
44 Lawrenceburg, TN 12,110 322 1,478 0 0
45 Cookeville, TN 37,248 292 1,661 0 0
46 Red Bank, TN 12,113 396 1,172 0 0
47 Greeneville, TN 15,866 258 1,897 0 0
48 Smithville, TN 5,514 398 1,251 0 0
49 Alcoa, TN 14,270 385 1,359 0 0
50 Lenoir City, TN 12,354 348 1,602 8 1
51 Jefferson City, TN 8,877 292 1,937 0 0
52 Tullahoma, TN 21,208 391 1,669 4 1
53 Clarksville, TN 185,349 410 1,632 4 9
54 Bristol, TN 28,082 363 1,958 0 0
55 Smyrna, TN 58,791 278 2,386 1 1
56 Madisonville, TN 5,379 371 2,212 0 0
57 Shelbyville, TN 25,655 432 1,909 3 1
58 Lexington, TN 8,000 412 1,987 0 0
59 Humboldt, TN 7,828 574 1,622 0 0
60 East Ridge, TN 21,886 411 1,996 4 1
61 Murfreesboro, TN 169,520 420 2,022 2 5
62 La Vergne, TN 39,897 476 1,834 5 2
63 Johnson City, TN 74,093 402 2,302 5 4
64 Mcminnville, TN 13,787 638 1,668 0 0
65 Clinton, TN 10,430 450 2,147 0 0
66 Winchester, TN 10,177 373 2,594 0 0
67 Milan, TN 8,331 564 1,992 0 0
68 Cleveland, TN 49,482 452 2,384 4 2
69 Dickson, TN 16,980 465 2,326 5 1
70 Pulaski, TN 8,243 460 2,365 0 0
71 Rockwood, TN 5,698 579 2,070 0 0
72 Lewisburg, TN 13,406 716 1,931 7 1
73 Fayetteville, TN 7,042 1,150 1,675 0 0
74 Kingsport, TN 57,138 441 2,959 3 2
75 Columbia, TN 49,374 573 2,487 12 6
76 Sevierville, TN 18,084 436 3,174 0 0
77 Manchester, TN 13,626 653 2,458 7 1
78 Union City, TN 10,887 698 2,424 0 0
79 Harriman, TN 6,246 480 3,586 0 0
80 Crossville, TN 12,842 646 2,585 0 0
81 Morristown, TN 32,660 765 2,470 3 1
82 Savannah, TN 7,344 694 2,505 0 0
83 Ripley, TN 7,575 1,742 2,151 13 1
84 Athens, TN 14,949 622 3,665 6 1
85 Millington, TN 11,785 602 3,801 8 1
86 Knoxville, TN 200,457 740 2,721 10 22
87 Brownsville, TN 9,264 1,036 2,504 0 0
88 Covington, TN 8,537 1,112 2,530 0 0
89 Bolivar, TN 5,119 1,269 2,480 0 0
90 Newport, TN 7,010 684 4,308 0 0
91 Pigeon Forge, TN 6,344 788 3,168 15 1
92 Jackson, TN 68,286 950 3,160 24 17
93 Chattanooga, TN 188,894 823 3,942 12 24
94 Nashville, TN 698,987 1,124 4,509 14 102
95 Dyersburg, TN 15,917 1,256 4,755 18 3
96 Memphis, TN 613,207 2,501 6,898 40 249

Breaking Down Crime In The Safest And Most Dangerous Cities In Tennessee

Safest Cities in Tennessee Breakdown

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn.

Safest Cities By State

Enjoy The Snack?

About HomeSnacks

HomeSnacks is based in Durham, NC.

We aim to deliver bite-sized pieces of infotainment about where you live.

We use data, analytics, and a sense of humor to determine quality of life for places across the nation.

© Chasing Chains, LLC. All rights reserved.