Crime & Safety in Cookeville
Cookeville's crime data shows a real, disclosed tension between sources: NeighborhoodScout cites a rate higher than 84% of Tennessee's own communities, while CrimeGrade's absolute cost-of-crime figure actually runs below the state average.
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Learn moreNeighborhoodScout's read: elevated relative to Tennessee specifically
NeighborhoodScout cites an overall crime rate of 21 per 1,000 residents (1-in-48 victimization odds) and a violent-crime rate of 3 per 1,000 (1-in-334 odds), describing Cookeville as higher-crime than 84% of Tennessee's own cities and towns of all sizes -- a real, within-state-percentile framing.
CrimeGrade's read: a real, disclosed tension with NeighborhoodScout's framing
CrimeGrade's cost-of-crime figure comes in at $528 per resident per year -- only $63 above the national average, and actually $166 BELOW Tennessee's own state average. This is a genuine, disclosed tension with NeighborhoodScout's 84th-percentile framing: the two sources use different methodologies (within-state percentile ranking vs. absolute dollar cost), and both are disclosed here rather than resolved into one verdict.
Why this tension likely exists
This pattern -- a high within-state percentile rank alongside a modest absolute cost figure -- suggests Cookeville's crime rate, while genuinely elevated relative to Tennessee's many lower-crime small towns, may not be as costly in absolute dollar terms as its percentile ranking alone implies. Similar interpretive tension (not raw-number conflict) is documented for Marietta, GA elsewhere in this dataset.
Check a specific address directly, and expect real block-level variance
As with any city, block-level variance is real. Per site policy, no specific area of Cookeville is named here as higher- or lower-crime -- check a specific address directly with both NeighborhoodScout and CrimeGrade before drawing a conclusion.
Key takeaways
- NeighborhoodScout cites an overall crime rate of 21 per 1,000 (1-in-48 odds), describing Cookeville as higher-crime than 84% of Tennessee's own communities.
- CrimeGrade's cost-of-crime figure ($528/resident/year) runs only $63 above the national average and $166 BELOW Tennessee's own state average -- a real, disclosed tension with NeighborhoodScout's framing.
- This pattern suggests a genuinely elevated within-state percentile rank alongside a more modest absolute-cost reading -- both disclosed rather than resolved into one verdict.
- No specific area of Cookeville is named here as higher- or lower-crime, per site policy.
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