Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0For property crime, Portland beats 79% of U.S. towns per resident
Its Safety Grade, B (#34 of 129 graded towns in Tennessee), rests on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of U.S. towns. The graded rate fell 26% from 2023 to 2025. Year on year, 2.6 violent crimes and 5.1 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 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 Portland
Among Tennessee towns, higher
Tennessee’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Portland’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 74% of the 129 Tennessee towns we grade, against 58% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Portland’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Portland’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Portland property | Rest of Tennessee property | Portland violent | Rest of Tennessee violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.7 | 33.7 | 2.6 | 9.1 |
| 2023 | 5.9 | 35.5 | 2.5 | 9.1 |
| 2024 | 4.6 | 30.7 | 3.7 | 8.5 |
| 2025 | 4.7 | 24.4 | 1.5 | 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 | Portland | Rest of Tennessee | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.6 | 9.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.5 | 9.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.7 | 8.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.5 | 6.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Portland’s police reported 106 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 Portland 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
86 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.
21 violent and 65 property, as reported to the FBI by Portland’s police.
Seven people died in crashes on Portland’s roads in 2019–2023
Portland had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 1 was a pedestrian and 1 was a cyclist. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
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 Portland’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Portland’s own rate (10.4) 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.
Portland and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Orlinda has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Tennessee towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Crossville | D | 5.6 | 24.2 |
The five graded Tennessee towns closest to Portland’s population (13,658), 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 Portland. 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 Portland’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (13,763 in 2025); our figure for Portland is 13,658 (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 Portland
Is Portland, TN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Portland reports less crime per resident than 58% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #34 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 Portland?
2.6 violent and 5.1 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 Portland?
Portland’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Portland”. 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 Portland.
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.