Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0More property crime is recorded per resident in Cookeville than in 71% of U.S. towns
The Safety Grade comes out at C, drawn from crimes Cookeville’s police reported through 2023 to 2025: #69 of 129 graded towns in Tennessee. The graded rate fell 24% from 2023 to 2025. Recorded violent crimes ran at 2.6 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 17.3, against 8.2 and 30.2 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 Cookeville
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 1 Tennessee towns on Cookeville’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Algood (B−). Neighbors ↓
Among Tennessee towns, closer to the middle
Tennessee’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Cookeville’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 47% of the 129 Tennessee towns we grade, against 31% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Cookeville is home to Tennessee Technological University, with 9,227 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 19% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Cookeville has 32,423 jobs based in town for 38,212 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 Cookeville’s 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. Its violent rate (2.6) 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. Its property rate (17.3) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) 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 | Cookeville property | Rest of Tennessee property | Cookeville violent | Rest of Tennessee violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 23.3 | 33.7 | 2.5 | 9.1 |
| 2023 | 20.7 | 35.5 | 2.3 | 9.1 |
| 2024 | 16.6 | 30.7 | 2.9 | 8.6 |
| 2025 | 14.8 | 24.4 | 2.7 | 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 | Cookeville | Rest of Tennessee | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.5 | 9.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.3 | 9.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.9 | 8.6 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.7 | 6.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Cookeville’s police reported 295 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.6 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 Cookeville 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 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
659 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.
101 violent and 558 property, as reported to the FBI by Cookeville’s police.
21 people died in crashes on Cookeville’s roads in 2019–2023
Cookeville had 18 fatal crashes in five years, in which 21 people died; 2 were pedestrians. 3 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 11.6 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Tennessee towns of 25,000–100,000 people (9.6, 22 towns).
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.
Cookeville and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cookeville | C | 2.6 | 17.3 |
| Algood | B− | 2.3 | 9.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Tennessee towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cookeville | C | 2.6 | 17.3 |
| Maryville | B | 1.6 | 7.1 |
| Germantown | B− | 1.3 | 12.5 |
| Oak Ridge | C | 3.1 | 13.3 |
| La Vergne | C− | 4.5 | 16.2 |
| Morristown | D | 6.5 | 25.2 |
The five graded Tennessee towns closest to Cookeville’s population (38,212), 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 Cookeville. 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 Cookeville’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (37,664 in 2025); our figure for Cookeville is 38,212 (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 Cookeville
Is Cookeville, TN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Cookeville reports more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #69 of 129 in Tennessee. Its police reported 2.6 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 Cookeville?
2.6 violent and 17.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Tennessee reports 8.2 and 30.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Cookeville in 2025?
Cookeville’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Cookeville safer than Algood?
Algood reports less crime per resident than Cookeville: Algood grades B− for safety and Cookeville C. Algood’s police reported 2.3 violent and 9.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Cookeville?
Cookeville’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Cookeville”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Cookeville.
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.