The Chattanooga metro area, the 100th-largest in the US, is home to 575,800 residents in Tennessee and Georgia; Chattanooga itself is the fourth-largest city in Tennessee · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in the Chattanooga area?
Property crime in the Chattanooga area sits near the national middle: an A-, with more property crime than the neighborhoods where 50% of Americans live. Theft makes up 59% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades A, and vehicle theft grades A. The city of Chattanooga itself grades B for property crime.
A-
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 822 of 1,000About as much property crime as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
50% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than the Chattanooga area as a whole, and 50% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Chattanooga area scores 822.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more property crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its property crime with the homes, parked cars and people there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Chattanooga, TN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Chattanooga area, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out about property crime in the Chattanooga area
One part of Chattanooga stands out for vehicle theft. Car thefts in Highland Park, in central Chattanooga, run at more than double the rate in the rest of the city.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in the Chattanooga area
Low property crime is the norm across the Chattanooga area: 88% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 4% in areas graded D or F. Property crime grades across the Chattanooga area run from A+ to F.
88%
A or B 88%C 8%D or F 4%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Chattanooga
1Northside Community, northwestThefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Chattanooga.B+748
2Piney Woods, southwestClose to the rest of Chattanooga on most crimes.B645
3Twin Brook Community Club & Shepherd Community Action Council, eastThefts run about 80% higher here than in the rest of Chattanooga.B626
4Martin Luther King, Southside Historic District & Lookout Valley, westThefts run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Chattanooga.B-601
5Highland Park, centralBurglaries run about 90% higher here than in the rest of Chattanooga.C-360
Neighborhood areas of the city of Chattanooga, ranked by property crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Chattanooga metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by property crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Is property crime going up in the Chattanooga area?
Reported property crime in the Chattanooga area has fallen 34% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 29 to 19 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 16%.
Property crime, change since 2019
Chattanooga areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Chattanooga area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Chattanooga area
Property, US
2016
+12%
+15%
2017
+17%
+12%
2018
+14%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+9%
-8%
2021
-2%
-10%
2022
-14%
-6%
2023
-21%
-7%
2024
-34%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in the Chattanooga area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Chattanooga area has about 25 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as the US as a whole and close to Tennessee.
All property crime
Burglary
Vehicle theft
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Property crime here includes vandalism, which the FBI's property crime rate leaves out.
Theft is the most common property crime in the Chattanooga area, about 59% of the total, followed by vandalism and vehicle theft.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a property crime with what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for vehicle theft, people and parking for theft, homes and businesses for vandalism. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when property crime happens in the Chattanooga area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Chattanooga area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Chattanooga area, 65% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Car thefts happen most often at homes: 52% of them, against 33% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (65%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (52%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (48%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
Property crime in the Chattanooga area and nearby metro areas
The Chattanooga area has less property crime than 8 of its 10 nearest metro areas; only the Knoxville area and the Augusta area have less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Chattanooga area. Beside each property crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Chattanooga area has more property crime than 53% of them.
Density, night lighting and empty homes in the Chattanooga area
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, one sets the Chattanooga area apart: it has 5% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less car theft, yet car theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more car theft.5% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 95% of Americans in metro areas
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.60% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 93% of Americans in metro areas
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.8.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 84% of Americans in metro areas
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What property crime costs the Chattanooga area
Property crime costs the Chattanooga area about $102 million a year, or $176 per resident and about $450 per household: the value of what is stolen or damaged, plus the police, courts and prisons that respond.
Cost of property crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering add little to the cost of property crime, so this is close to its full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Burglary
$11 million
$19
Theft
$43 million
$75
Vehicle theft
$27 million
$47
Arson
$1.1 million
$2
Vandalism
$20 million
$34
Total
$102 million
$176
How CrimeGrade™ works
The property crime CrimeGrade™ covers burglary, theft, car theft, arson and vandalism, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each property crime against what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for car theft, and the people and parking around stores for theft.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. These figures cover the whole Chattanooga metro area. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
