Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Recorded crime per resident in South Pittsburg rose 75% from 2023 to 2025
Property crime is lower than in 93% of U.S. towns; violent crime, lower than in only 40%. Scored on crimes South Pittsburg’s police reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on B+ for safety: #15 of 129 graded towns in Tennessee. Its police logs show 2.1 violent crimes and 2.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Tennessee the numbers are 8.2 and 30.1.
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 South Pittsburg
South Pittsburg reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 Tennessee towns on South Pittsburg’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Kimball (C). Neighbors ↓
Among Tennessee towns, higher
Tennessee’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so South Pittsburg’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 88% of the 129 Tennessee towns we grade, against 71% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 South Pittsburg’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds South Pittsburg’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.1) 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 | South Pittsburg property | Rest of Tennessee property | South Pittsburg violent | Rest of Tennessee violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.6 | 33.6 | 2.0 | 9.1 |
| 2023 | 2.7 | 35.4 | 1.0 | 9.1 |
| 2024 | 2.4 | 30.6 | 1.4 | 8.5 |
| 2025 | 2.4 | 24.4 | 4.1 | 6.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose 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 | South Pittsburg | Rest of Tennessee | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.0 | 9.1 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.0 | 9.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 8.5 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.1 | 6.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
South Pittsburg’s police reported 19 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.1 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 South Pittsburg 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.
19 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.
12 violent and 7 property, as reported to the FBI by South Pittsburg’s police.
Two people died in crashes on South Pittsburg’s roads in 2019–2023
South Pittsburg had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
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 South Pittsburg’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so South Pittsburg’s own rate (13.3) 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.
South Pittsburg and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Pittsburg | B+ | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| Kimball | C | 0.4 | 29.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Tennessee towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Pittsburg | B+ | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| Westmoreland | A | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| Woodbury | B+ | 1.0 | 8.1 |
| Dresden | B | 1.4 | 10.5 |
| New Tazewell | B− | 1.4 | 13.0 |
| Monterey | C+ | 3.3 | 10.7 |
The five graded Tennessee towns closest to South Pittsburg’s population (2,927), 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 South Pittsburg. 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 South Pittsburg’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,940 in 2025); our figure for South Pittsburg is 2,927 (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 South Pittsburg
Is South Pittsburg, TN safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, South Pittsburg reports less crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #15 of 129 in Tennessee. Its police reported 2.1 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 South Pittsburg?
2.1 violent and 2.5 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 South Pittsburg safer than Kimball?
Kimball reports more crime per resident than South Pittsburg: Kimball grades C for safety and South Pittsburg B+. Kimball’s police reported 0.4 violent and 29.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices South Pittsburg?
South Pittsburg’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “South Pittsburg”. 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 South Pittsburg.
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.