Violent offenses were down nearly 14 percent from 2024, according to data from the Metro Nashville Police Department, while reports of property crime decreased by nearly 12 percent. In some categories of serious crime, rates dropped to their lowest level in a decade or more.
The figures show a continuation of a multi-year trend of falling crime rates in Nashville and major cities around the country, after a deadly surge during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Overall, there were likely around 12,000 fewer people murdered in the United States in 2024 and 2025 than in 2020 and 2021,” crime data analyst Jeff Asher wrote in a review of the year last week.
Asher reported that among the top 30 cities with the most homicides in 2024, all but three were on track to finish 2025 with fewer.
Nashville closed out the year with 74 recorded homicides, nearly 27.5 percent fewer than 2024 and the lowest total since 2014. The drop comes after five straight years with more than 100 homicides in the city. There were also 35 percent fewer gunshot victims compared to 2024, and violent offenses overall fell to their lowest point since 2013.
In the case of robberies and burglaries, rates dropped not just below 2024 levels, but also below levels not seen in more than 50 years. Under Tennessee law, robbery is the intentional theft of property directly from a person, whereas burglary is defined as unlawfully entering private property with the intent to commit a crime.
Nashville police recorded 866 total robberies — including commercial and street robberies — the fewest since 1969 and a nearly 26 percent reduction from 2024. For burglaries, 2025 appears to have been a historic year. That category was down more than 13 percent from last year, with the department recording the lowest total number of incidents in Metro government history (2,524). MNPD spokesperson Brooke Reese told the Banner that both categories often include serial offenders, meaning that a handful of arrests by detectives can have a significant impact.