Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Athens reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Athens’ police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #111 of 129 graded towns in Tennessee.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of TN” is every other Tennessee city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Athens
A job center
Athens has 12,135 jobs based in town for 15,263 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Athens’ grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime is falling
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Tennessee.
Show as a table
| Year | Athens property | Rest of Tennessee property | Athens violent | Rest of Tennessee violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 55.7 | 33.5 | 7.9 | 9.1 |
| 2023 | 38.2 | 35.4 | 4.0 | 9.1 |
| 2024 | 36.7 | 30.6 | 6.2 | 8.5 |
| 2025 | 27.3 | 24.3 | 4.1 | 6.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 27 property crimes reported
And about 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Athens’ police reported 214 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.2 in the rest of Tennessee and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Athens | Rest of Tennessee | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.9 | 9.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 4.0 | 9.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 6.2 | 8.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.1 | 6.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
480 crimes reported in 2025
63 violent and 417 property, as reported to the FBI by Athens’ police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Eight people died in crashes on Athens’s roads in 2019–2023
Athens had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 3 were pedestrians. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is about what is typical for Tennessee towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (9.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Athens’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Athens’s own rate (11.1) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Athens and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | D | 4.8 | 33.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Tennessee towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | D | 4.8 | 33.9 |
| Nolensville | A+ | 0.4 | 2.0 |
| Elizabethton | C | 2.2 | 18.0 |
| Greeneville | C− | 3.3 | 20.5 |
| McMinnville | D | 6.4 | 19.5 |
| Dyersburg | D− | 11.5 | 46.2 |
The five graded Tennessee towns closest to Athens’ population (15,263), by grade.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Athens. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Athens’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (15,300 in 2025); our figure for Athens is 15,263 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Athens
Is Athens, TN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Athens reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #111 of 129 in Tennessee. Its police reported 4.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.2 in the rest of Tennessee and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Athens?
4.8 violent and 33.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Tennessee reports 8.2 and 30.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Athens?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Athens?
Athens’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Athens”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Athens.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.