Rhea County Courthouse · Photo: Calvin Beale · Public domainReported crime per resident in Dayton fell 45% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Dayton grades B− for safety (#49 of 129 graded towns in Tennessee): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Dayton
Among Tennessee towns, closer to the middle
Tennessee’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Dayton’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 62% of the 129 Tennessee towns we grade, against 46% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Dayton is home to Bryan College-Dayton, with 904 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 8% 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
Dayton has 7,827 jobs based in town for 7,819 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 Dayton’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.0) 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 (12.5) 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 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 | Dayton property | Rest of Tennessee property | Dayton violent | Rest of Tennessee violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 21.3 | 33.6 | 2.4 | 9.1 |
| 2023 | 15.7 | 35.4 | 1.6 | 9.1 |
| 2024 | 14.3 | 30.6 | 2.4 | 8.5 |
| 2025 | 7.7 | 24.4 | 1.9 | 6.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Dayton’s police reported 45 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.0 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 | Dayton | Rest of Tennessee | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.4 | 9.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.6 | 9.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.4 | 8.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.9 | 6.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 8 property crimes reported
And about 2 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.
76 crimes reported in 2025
15 violent and 61 property, as reported to the FBI by Dayton’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Four people died in crashes on Dayton’s roads in 2019–2023
Dayton had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died.
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 Dayton’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Dayton’s own rate (10.5) 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.
Dayton and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton | B− | 2.0 | 12.5 |
| Graysville | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Graysville reported to the FBI for 2023 but not 2024 or 2025.
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 Dayton. 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 Dayton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (7,894 in 2025); our figure for Dayton is 7,819 (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 Dayton
Is Dayton, TN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Dayton reports more crime per resident than 54% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #49 of 129 in Tennessee. Its police reported 2.0 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 Dayton?
2.0 violent and 12.5 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.
Is crime going up or down in Dayton?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Who polices Dayton?
Dayton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Dayton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Dayton.
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.