Is East Nashville Safe?

February 19, 2026

East Nashville is safer than its reputation from fifteen years ago suggested and less uniformly safe than its current reputation implies. The honest answer is that it varies significantly by street, time of day, and the specific sub-neighborhood you’re in.

The Historical Context

Ten years ago, East Nashville had a measurably higher crime rate than the city average in some areas, and many Nashvillians reflexively warned newcomers about it. That reputation was already outdated when people were repeating it. The neighborhood’s gentrification, which the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s 2025 report ranked as the most intense of any American city between 2010 and 2020, brought with it a significant reduction in property crime in many parts of East Nashville. Neighborhoods like Historic Edgefield and East End are now considered among the safest in the city, with crime rates measurably below the Nashville average.

Current Crime Profile

The most common crimes in East Nashville today are property crimes: larceny, vehicle break-in and theft, vandalism. Assault shows up on crime maps, but violent crime is lower than property crime overall. According to Area Vibes data analyzed by local real estate sources, 8 of the 10 most dangerous Nashville neighborhoods are not in East Nashville. The areas with higher reported offenses in Davidson County tend to be in South and North Nashville.

That said, crime in Nashville as a whole is a genuine concern. The city has faced rising gun violence and has officially named it a public health crisis. The problem is not confined to one neighborhood.

Where to Pay Attention

East Nashville is not one uniform zone. The Five Points commercial district, Lockeland Springs, and Historic Edgefield are well-lit, well-trafficked, and safe to walk around at night for most people exercising normal urban awareness. These are dense residential areas with neighbors who look out for each other.

The picture shifts as you move away from the central commercial nodes. Some blocks in Cleveland Park and McFerrin Park are further along in their development, others less so. Inglewood and the broader stretches of Greater East Nashville (ZIP codes 37207 and 37216) are more variable. Riverside Drive along the Cumberland River is quiet at night in a way that requires more awareness than Five Points.

Car break-ins are the most common issue affecting visitors. Don’t leave anything visible in a parked car. This is true across Nashville, not just East Nashville.

For Visitors Specifically

Most visitors to East Nashville are going to Five Points and its surrounding blocks: Woodland Street, Main Street, Gallatin Avenue toward the Fatherland District, Porter Road. These areas are genuinely fine to walk at night. The bars and restaurants here stay open late, the streets have foot traffic, and the neighborhood has enough residents with stakes in what happens that it’s self-policing in the organic way urban neighborhoods are when they function well.

The one honest caveat: East Nashville has a bar culture, and concentrated bar areas can attract incidents. Two people were killed near the Attaboy Lounge on McFerrin Avenue during the March 2020 tornado when they were hit by debris, and the area around bar clusters on weekend nights has the same elevated noise and occasional friction you’d find in any urban entertainment zone. This is not specific to East Nashville.

For Those Considering Living There

Crime risk in East Nashville varies block by block in a way that makes neighborhood-level statistics somewhat misleading. Checking the Metro Nashville Police Department’s publicly available crime mapping for specific addresses gives a much more accurate picture than any neighborhood-wide summary. The short version: well-traveled, well-lit residential blocks near the commercial core of Five Points carry risks comparable to other gentrified urban neighborhoods. More isolated blocks farther from the commercial center vary.

The pattern of gentrification itself has shifted where poverty and its associated crime pressures are concentrated. As Metro Nashville social services analysis has noted, rapid gentrification doesn’t eliminate poverty; it relocates it. Some of the crime pressure that used to exist within East Nashville has shifted to areas at its edges and beyond.

Sources

Related posts:

  1. What Areas of Nashville Are Not Walkable? The honest answer is: most of Nashville. The city's overall Walk Score is 29 out of 100, placing it 48th among large US cities. That puts Nashville below Atlanta (49),......
  2. What Are the Parking Rules in Nashville? Nashville's parking rules have gone through two major overhauls since 2023. The first, in February 2023, eliminated free evening and Sunday parking downtown and moved to 24/7 enforcement in the......
  3. What Time Does Broadway Calm Down? After 2 a.m. on weekend nights, the bars begin closing in waves. Tennessee law allows service until 3 a.m., and most Broadway venues push to that limit on Fridays and......
  4. What Recent Development Has Changed North Nashville the Most? Two developments have reshaped North Nashville more than anything else in the past decade: the March 2020 tornado that destroyed significant portions of the neighborhood, and the Buchanan Street corridor's......
  5. What Is the Nashville Public School System Like? Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) serves approximately 81,000 students across 160 schools in Davidson County, making it the 49th largest district in the country. It is a large urban district......
  6. Is Nashville Safe? The honest answer: Nashville is safer than the crime statistics make it look, but not as safe as the tourism industry would have you believe. That gap between perception and......
  7. Where Do Locals Hang Out in East Nashville? The question assumes a useful distinction: places where locals actually go versus places that have become sufficiently famous that locals have largely ceded them to the visiting crowd. In East......
  8. What Is the Easiest Neighborhood to Park In? The honest answer is that parking difficulty in Nashville correlates almost perfectly with how much you want to go there. The more restaurants, bars, and things to do in a......
  9. Which Nashville Neighborhood Is Most Expensive? Belle Meade is the most expensive neighborhood in Nashville by median home value, and it isn't particularly close. But the relevant answer depends on whether you're buying, renting, or just......
  10. Which Nashville Neighborhoods Should You Avoid? The honest version of this answer is narrower than internet forums suggest. Most of Nashville is safe for normal behavior during normal hours. The neighborhoods that require genuine caution are......
  11. What is the most famous restaurant in Germantown? City House is the most famous restaurant in Germantown, and arguably the restaurant most responsible for establishing the neighborhood as a dining destination in the first place. Chef Tandy Wilson......
  12. What Is East Nashville Known For? East Nashville built its reputation the old-fashioned way: musicians moved there because it was cheap, brought their friends, and over twenty years turned it into the neighborhood Nashville residents are......
  13. What Is the Vibe of East Nashville? The vibe of East Nashville is the city's most carefully guarded self-image, and it's legitimately different from the rest of Nashville in ways that matter. Cross the Cumberland River heading......
  14. Is East Nashville Walkable? East Nashville is walkable in some parts and not walkable at all in others. The distinction matters, because the neighborhood is so large, roughly 21 square miles across three ZIP......

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *