The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Kingsport, TN
Kingsport is a city of 70,000 in Sullivan County and the main city of the Kingsport metro area, home to 310,800 · Updated November 2026
Is Kingsport, TN safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Kingsport is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Kingsport sits near the middle: 42% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 58% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Kingsport run from A+ to C+, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 793 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
42% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Kingsport as a whole, and 58% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Kingsport scores 793.
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 Kingsport, TN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Kingsport, 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 Kingsport
Robberies are less common than the crime level suggests. Crime overall in Kingsport runs 33% above the US rate, but robberies run at about half that rate: 0.29 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
Aggravated assaults run high for an A-graded city. Kingsport has 3.7 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2.
The safest and least safe parts of Kingsport
Most of Kingsport grades well: 98% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Kingsport run from A+ to C+; 42% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
98%
A or B 98%C 2%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Kingsport, the southwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Kingsport?
Reported crime in Kingsport has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 29% and property crime down 43%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 6.3 to 4.5 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 53 to 30 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 32% and property crime fell 17%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
KingsportUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Kingsport. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Kingsport
Violent, US
Property, Kingsport
Property, US
2016
+13%
+4%
-9%
+15%
2017
+15%
+4%
+3%
+12%
2018
+22%
+0%
-1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+8%
+4%
-16%
-8%
2021
+19%
+6%
-28%
-10%
2022
+26%
+5%
-23%
-6%
2023
+5%
+2%
-32%
-7%
2024
-29%
-4%
-44%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Kingsport
CrimeGrade™ estimates Kingsport has about 50 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 33% more than the US as a whole and close to Tennessee.
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 makes up about 39% of crime reported in Kingsport. Aggravated assault is less common but costs more, because each one does far 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 Kingsport
Kingsport has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Kingsport, 64% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 58% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (64%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (58%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (55%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Homes (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (47%)
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 Kingsport compares with nearby cities
Of the 8 cities closest to Kingsport, 7 have less crime. Hiltons, VA and Gate City, VA have the least.
Parking lots, density and walkability in Kingsport
Two things set Kingsport apart: it has 2.8 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 3% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with a lot of parking-lot space tend to report more theft, and it runs high here.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.8 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 82% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.3% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 81% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 88% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (12 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 69% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.63 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 81% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 79% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.8.5% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 76% of US city residents
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 crime costs Kingsport
Crime costs Kingsport about $1,185 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about the same as 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 $100 million a year, or $1,422 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.4 million
$49
Rape
$2.0 million
$29
Robbery
$640,000
$9
Aggravated assault
$7.4 million
$105
Simple assault
$7.3 million
$104
Burglary
$1.7 million
$24
Theft
$7.0 million
$99
Vehicle theft
$2.7 million
$39
Arson
$230,000
$3
Vandalism
$3.0 million
$43
Total
$35 million
$504
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 Kingsport 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
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.
Schools in Kingsport, TN average a SchoolGrade of A-: 48% of students test proficient, against 41% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Kingsport on SchoolGrade
