Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Per resident, Monterey records more violent crime than 76% of U.S. towns
Its police logs show 3.3 violent crimes and 10.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Tennessee the numbers are 8.2 and 30.1. Overall, it grades C+ for safety (#56 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 Monterey
Among Tennessee towns, closer to the middle
Tennessee’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Monterey’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 57% of the 129 Tennessee towns we grade, against 38% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Monterey’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Monterey’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (3.3) 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.
Crime in Monterey 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Monterey | Rest of Tennessee | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.1 | 9.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.6 | 9.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.6 | 8.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.6 | 6.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Monterey’s police reported 27 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 8.2 in the rest of Tennessee and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Monterey property | Rest of Tennessee property | Monterey violent | Rest of Tennessee violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.7 | 33.6 | 1.1 | 9.1 |
| 2023 | 12.1 | 35.4 | 2.6 | 9.1 |
| 2024 | 13.1 | 30.6 | 3.6 | 8.5 |
| 2025 | 7.1 | 24.4 | 3.6 | 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.
30 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. 2025 figures come from FBI Crime Data Explorer, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
10 violent and 20 property, as reported to the FBI by Monterey’s police.
One person died in crashes on Monterey’s roads in 2019–2023
Monterey had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person 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 Monterey’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Monterey’s own rate (7.2) 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.
Monterey and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monterey | C+ | 3.3 | 10.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Tennessee towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monterey | C+ | 3.3 | 10.7 |
| Westmoreland | A | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| South Pittsburg | B+ | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| Woodbury | B+ | 1.0 | 8.1 |
| Dresden | B | 1.4 | 10.5 |
| New Tazewell | B− | 1.4 | 13.0 |
The five graded Tennessee towns closest to Monterey’s population (2,827), 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 Monterey. 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 Monterey’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,808 in 2025); our figure for Monterey is 2,827 (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 Monterey
Is Monterey, TN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Monterey reports more crime per resident than 62% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #56 of 129 in Tennessee. Its police reported 3.3 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 Monterey?
3.3 violent and 10.7 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 Monterey?
Monterey’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Monterey Police Department”. 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 Monterey.
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.