The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Lexington, TN
Lexington is a city of 14,700 in Henderson County, about 25 miles east of downtown Jackson · Updated November 2026
Is Lexington, TN safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Lexington is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Lexington sits near the middle: 55% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 45% in neighborhoods with less. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A against A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Lexington run from A+ to B, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 861 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
55% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Lexington as a whole, and 45% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Lexington scores 861.
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 Lexington, TN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Lexington, 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 Lexington
Aggravated assault stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; Lexington has 3.6.
The safest and least safe parts of Lexington
Every part of Lexington where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Lexington run from A+ to B; 61% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Lexington, the northwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Lexington?
Reported crime in Lexington has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 30% and property crime down 35%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.9 to 4.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 31 to 20 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 51% and property crime fell 22%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
LexingtonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Lexington. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Lexington
Violent, US
Property, Lexington
Property, US
2016
+29%
+4%
+9%
+15%
2017
+54%
+4%
+24%
+12%
2018
-1%
+0%
+30%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-12%
+4%
-15%
-8%
2021
+6%
+6%
-24%
-10%
2022
-42%
+5%
-19%
-6%
2023
+42%
+2%
-17%
-7%
2024
-30%
-4%
-35%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Lexington
CrimeGrade™ estimates Lexington has about 42 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 13% 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Lexington, about 52% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
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 Lexington
Lexington has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Lexington, 75% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (75%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (42%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (57%)
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 Lexington compares with nearby cities
Lexington has the most crime of its 3 nearest cities.
Two things set Lexington apart: it has 0% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 11.1% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places where few residents live in dense blocks tend to report less robbery and car theft; here car theft sits near the national middle.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.under 1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 93% 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.11.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 90% 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. 93% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (6 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 88% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.15.6 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 89% of US city residents
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.50% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 87% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.1 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 86% 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 Lexington
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Lexington about $1,180 a year per household, 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 $21 million a year, or $1,441 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.1 million
$72
Rape
$200,000
$13
Robbery
$59,000
$4
Assault
$3.5 million
$237
Burglary
$290,000
$20
Theft
$780,000
$53
Vehicle theft
$590,000
$40
Arson
$43,000
$3
Vandalism
$460,000
$31
Total
$6.9 million
$473
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 Lexington 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 Lexington, TN average a SchoolGrade of B: 44% of students test proficient, against 36% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Lexington on SchoolGrade
