Nathan Bedford Forrest Boyhood Home · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Chapel Hill sees less property crime per resident than 68% of U.S. towns
Chapel Hill grades B− for safety overall: close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. On top of that, the graded rate fell 24% from 2023 to 2025. Out of every 1,000 residents, 2.5 violent crimes and 7.0 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 8.2 and 30.1 in the rest of 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 Chapel Hill
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 Chapel Hill’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Chapel Hill’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.5) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Chapel Hill property | Rest of Tennessee property | Chapel Hill violent | Rest of Tennessee violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.0 | 33.6 | 2.8 | 9.1 |
| 2023 | 7.6 | 35.4 | 6.5 | 9.1 |
| 2024 | 3.7 | 30.6 | 0.0 | 8.5 |
| 2025 | 9.8 | 24.3 | 1.0 | 6.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Chapel Hill | Rest of Tennessee | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.8 | 9.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.5 | 9.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.0 | 8.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.0 | 6.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Chapel Hill’s police reported 14 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.2 in the rest of Tennessee and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Chapel Hill per 1,000 residents
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.
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
21 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
2 violent and 19 property, as reported to the FBI by Chapel Hill’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Chapel Hill’s roads in 2019–2023
Chapel Hill had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which three people died.
That is about what is typical for Tennessee towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (12.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Chapel Hill’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Chapel Hill’s own rate (35.0) 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.
Chapel Hill and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapel Hill | B− | 2.5 | 7.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Tennessee towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapel Hill | B− | 2.5 | 7.0 |
| Spring City | A− | 0.5 | 5.9 |
| Pikeville | B− | 1.4 | 11.2 |
| Greenfield | B− | 3.1 | 5.9 |
| Bluff City | C | 3.6 | 17.4 |
| Berry Hill | D− | 4.5 | 63.1 |
The five graded Tennessee towns closest to Chapel Hill’s population (1,905), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
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 Chapel Hill. 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 Chapel Hill’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (1,943 in 2025); our figure for Chapel Hill is 1,905 (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 Chapel Hill
Is Chapel Hill, TN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Chapel Hill reports less crime per resident than 54% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade. Its police reported 2.5 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 Chapel Hill?
2.5 violent and 7.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Tennessee reports 8.2 and 30.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Chapel Hill?
Chapel Hill’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Chapel Hill”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Chapel Hill.
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.