Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Tennessee?
We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.
To find the cities in Tennessee with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI crime data on murders for the 35 cities in the Volunteer State with over 6,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Tennessee? The city with the highest murder rate in Tennessee is Memphis with 41 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Tennessee with highest number of murders? The city in Tennessee with the highest number of murders is Memphis with 249 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Tennessee ranked. There were ‘only’ 35 cities in Tennessee where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 61 places had no murder.
41 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Tennessee
Located in
Shelby County, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
25 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Tennessee
Located in
Robertson County, Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
25 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Tennessee
Located in
Madison County, Tennessee
Jackson is the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee. Located 70 miles east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census and 67,265 in the 2012 Census estimate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
19 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Tennessee
Located in
Dyer County, Tennessee
Dyersburg is a city and the county seat of Dyer County, Tennessee, in the United States. It is located in northwest Tennessee, 79 miles northeast of Memphis on the Forked Deer River. The population was 17,145 at the 2010 census. Dyersburg and Dyer County offer many amenities including quality schools, a low crime rate, moderate climate, low cost of living, and close proximity to area recreation. Dyersburg is a regional retail, medical, employment and cultural center for more than 300,000 people who live in Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
16 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Tennessee
Located in
Sevier County, Tennessee
Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 5,875.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
15 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Tennessee
Located in
Monroe County, Tennessee
Sweetwater is a city in Monroe and McMinn counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the most populous city in Monroe County. The population was 5,586 at the 2000 census and 5,764 at the 2010 census. Sweetwater is the home of the Craighead Caverns which contains the Lost Sea, the United States’ largest underground lake.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
15 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Tennessee
14 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Tennessee
Located in
Tipton County, Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
13 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Tennessee
Located in
Lauderdale County, Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
13 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Tennessee
Located in
Hamilton County, Tennessee
Chattanooga is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, with a population of 176,588 in 2015. The fourth-largest Tennessee city, it is the seat of Hamilton County. Located in southeastern Tennessee in East Tennessee, on the Tennessee River, served by multiple railroads and Interstate highways, Chattanooga is a transit hub. Chattanooga lies 120 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia, 120 miles southwest of Knoxville, Tennessee, 135 miles southeast of Nashville, Tennessee, 120 miles northeast of Huntsville, Alabama, and 148 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Tennessee’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Tennessee’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Tennessee
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of murders in each city annually.
We only looked at every single city in Tennessee for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 35 cities to rank.
We took the number of murders per capita as the ranking factor. The place with the most murders per capita based on the most recent data is Memphis. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Tennessee. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Tennessee
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Memphis | 613,207 | 249 | 41 |
| 2 | Springfield | 19,729 | 5 | 25 |
| 3 | Jackson | 68,286 | 17 | 25 |
| 4 | Dyersburg | 15,917 | 3 | 19 |
| 5 | Pigeon Forge | 6,344 | 1 | 16 |
| 6 | Sweetwater | 6,696 | 1 | 15 |
| 7 | Metropolitan Nashville Police Department | 698,987 | 102 | 15 |
| 8 | Munford | 6,901 | 1 | 14 |
| 9 | Ripley | 7,575 | 1 | 13 |
| 10 | Chattanooga | 188,894 | 24 | 13 |
| 11 | Columbia | 49,374 | 6 | 12 |
| 12 | Knoxville | 200,457 | 22 | 11 |
| 13 | Oakland | 11,026 | 1 | 9 |
| 14 | Millington | 11,785 | 1 | 8 |
| 15 | Lenoir City | 12,354 | 1 | 8 |
| 16 | Lewisburg | 13,406 | 1 | 7 |
| 17 | Manchester | 13,626 | 1 | 7 |
| 18 | Athens | 14,949 | 1 | 7 |
| 19 | Dickson | 16,980 | 1 | 6 |
| 20 | Lebanon | 51,653 | 3 | 6 |
| 21 | Goodlettsville | 17,312 | 1 | 6 |
| 22 | Johnson City | 74,093 | 4 | 5 |
| 23 | La Vergne | 39,897 | 2 | 5 |
| 24 | Clarksville | 185,349 | 9 | 5 |
| 25 | Tullahoma | 21,208 | 1 | 5 |
| 26 | East Ridge | 21,886 | 1 | 5 |
| 27 | Cleveland | 49,482 | 2 | 4 |
| 28 | Shelbyville | 25,655 | 1 | 4 |
| 29 | Kingsport | 57,138 | 2 | 4 |
| 30 | Hendersonville | 64,126 | 2 | 3 |
| 31 | Morristown | 32,660 | 1 | 3 |
| 32 | Murfreesboro | 169,520 | 5 | 3 |
| 33 | Gallatin | 52,346 | 1 | 2 |
| 34 | Smyrna | 58,791 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 | Franklin | 90,077 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 35 Tennessee cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Tennessee For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in Tennessee with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.
The cities with the highest murder per capita in Tennessee are Memphis, Springfield, Jackson, Dyersburg, Pigeon Forge, Sweetwater, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Munford, Ripley, and Chattanooga.
