Sycamore Shoals · Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Elizabethton has more property crime per resident than 73% of U.S. towns
Elizabethton grades C for safety overall (#64 of 129 graded towns in Tennessee): more crime per resident than 67% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Still, each year brought 2.2 violent crimes and 18.0 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (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 Elizabethton
Elizabethton reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 6 Tennessee towns on Elizabethton’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Johnson City (C−). Pine Crest, Central, Hunter, Biltmore and Valley Forge are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own. Neighbors ↓
Among Tennessee towns, closer to the middle
Tennessee’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Elizabethton’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 50% of the 129 Tennessee towns we grade, against 33% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Elizabethton has 9,014 jobs based in town for 14,350 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Elizabethton’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 (2.2) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Elizabethton | Rest of Tennessee | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.0 | 9.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.5 | 9.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.5 | 8.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.7 | 6.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Elizabethton’s police reported 95 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.2 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 Elizabethton 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Elizabethton property | Rest of Tennessee property | Elizabethton violent | Rest of Tennessee violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 19.4 | 33.6 | 3.0 | 9.1 |
| 2023 | 16.8 | 35.4 | 2.5 | 9.1 |
| 2024 | 15.6 | 30.7 | 1.5 | 8.5 |
| 2025 | 21.5 | 24.3 | 2.7 | 6.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Tennessee.
349 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.
39 violent and 310 property, as reported to the FBI by Elizabethton’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Elizabethton’s roads in 2019–2023
Elizabethton had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five 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 Elizabethton’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Elizabethton’s own rate (7.0) 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.
Elizabethton and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabethton | C | 2.2 | 18.0 |
| Pine Crest | — | — | — |
| Central | — | — | — |
| Hunter | — | — | — |
| Biltmore | — | — | — |
| Valley Forge | — | — | — |
| Johnson City | C− | 4.0 | 24.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Pine Crest, Central, Hunter, Biltmore and Valley Forge are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
Tennessee towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabethton | C | 2.2 | 18.0 |
| Portland | B | 2.6 | 5.1 |
| Alcoa | C | 4.2 | 13.3 |
| Lewisburg | D | 6.3 | 17.5 |
| McMinnville | D | 6.4 | 19.5 |
| Manchester | D | 5.6 | 24.4 |
The five graded Tennessee towns closest to Elizabethton’s population (14,350), 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 Elizabethton. 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 Elizabethton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (14,446 in 2025); our figure for Elizabethton is 14,350 (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 Elizabethton
Is Elizabethton, TN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Elizabethton reports more crime per resident than 67% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #64 of 129 in Tennessee. Its police reported 2.2 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 Elizabethton?
2.2 violent and 18.0 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.
Is Elizabethton safer than Johnson City?
Johnson City reports more crime per resident than Elizabethton: Johnson City grades C− for safety and Elizabethton C. Johnson City’s police reported 4.0 violent and 24.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Elizabethton?
Elizabethton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Elizabethton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Elizabethton.
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.