ZIP 38103 covers Downtown Memphis in Memphis, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is ZIP 38103 in Memphis safe?
ZIP 38103 is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 94% of Americans live. Violent crime grades D- and property crime F. Memphis as a whole grades F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within ZIP 38103 run from C to F, so check the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
6% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than ZIP 38103 as a whole, and 94% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. ZIP 38103 scores 0.
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 crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime 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 ZIP 38103, Memphis, TN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in ZIP 38103 in Memphis, 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 in ZIP 38103
Car thefts and thefts both run high. In ZIP 38103, each runs at more than triple the US rate: 33.6 car thefts and 75.9 thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 and 13.1 nationally.
How ZIP 38103 compares within Memphis
High crime is widespread across ZIP 38103: 83% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across ZIP 38103 run from C to F; every part of ZIP 38103 has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
17%83%
C 17%D or F 83%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
ZIP 38103 has less crime than 19 of the 26 ZIP codes in Memphis.
Is crime going up in Memphis?
Reported crime in Memphis as a whole has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 31% and property crime up 12%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 19 to 25 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 62 to 69 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 20%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
MemphisUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Memphis. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Memphis
Violent, US
Property, Memphis
Property, US
2016
-4%
+4%
-8%
+15%
2017
+5%
+4%
+2%
+12%
2018
+2%
+0%
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+28%
+4%
-6%
-8%
2021
+32%
+6%
-11%
-10%
2022
+27%
+5%
+18%
-6%
2023
+36%
+2%
+40%
-7%
2024
+31%
-4%
+12%
-15%
Crime rates and types in ZIP 38103
CrimeGrade™ estimates ZIP 38103 has about 216 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than triple the rate for the US as a whole and 44% more than Memphis as a whole.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft is the most common crime in ZIP 38103, about 35% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. 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 crime happens in Memphis
The Memphis Police Department polices ZIP 38103; these figures cover Memphis as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Memphis as a whole, 64% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 40% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (64%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (55%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (58%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Homes (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (59%)
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.
How ZIP 38103 compares with nearby ZIP codes
ZIP 38103 has the least crime of its 9 nearest ZIP codes.
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs ZIP 38103 about $4,659 a year per household, more than triple the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $127 million a year, or $8,876 per resident.
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in ZIP 38103 means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
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. 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
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.
Schools in ZIP 38103, Memphis, TN average a SchoolGrade of F: 23% of students test proficient, against 24% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in ZIP 38103 on SchoolGrade
