Two hundred and ninety-six. That’s how many people were murdered in Memphis in 2024. It’s a brutal number by any national standard. It’s also 101 fewer than the 397 homicides recorded in 2023, a 25% decline that is the sharpest single-year drop the city has seen in over a decade.
For a city that has been synonymous with violent crime for years, 2024 was genuinely different. Total Part 1 crimes fell 13% across the board. Downtown crime dropped 26.4%. Motor vehicle theft, the category that exploded during the pandemic years, fell 39%. By nearly every metric Memphis Police Department tracks, 2024 was the safest year the city has experienced since roughly 2019 or 2020.
That’s the good news, and it deserves to be stated plainly. The question is what drove it, what didn’t change, and why so many Memphis residents don’t feel any safer despite what the numbers show.
The Homicide Numbers in Context
Memphis recorded 296 homicides in 2024, down from 397 in 2023 and well below the staggering 346 in 2022 (which itself was down from 2021’s record of 342, though some counts vary by source depending on how justifiable homicides are classified).
To find a comparable number, you have to go back to 2019, when Memphis recorded 190 homicides, or 2020, when the count jumped to 332 as the pandemic-era crime surge began. The 296 figure for 2024 sits above pre-pandemic levels yet marks a clear break from the 2021-2023 plateau that kept the city above 340 most years.
Where did the drop happen? MPD’s precinct-level data shows the largest reductions in the Raines, Airways, and Mt. Moriah station areas, covering South Memphis, Whitehaven, and parts of Hickory Hill. These neighborhoods accounted for a disproportionate share of Memphis homicides in prior years. The Tillman precinct area covering Midtown and parts of North Memphis also saw a notable decline.
Not every area improved equally. The Appling Farms precinct covering the northeast corner of the city, including parts of Raleigh and Frayser, had a smaller reduction than the citywide average. Frayser has been one of Memphis’s most violence-affected neighborhoods for years, and its numbers remain stubbornly high even as other areas improve.
Breaking Down the Categories
Homicide gets the headlines, yet it accounts for a small fraction of total crime. Here’s how the major Part 1 categories performed in 2024:
Aggravated assault declined roughly 11% year over year. This is significant because aggravated assault is the highest-volume violent crime category in Memphis, with thousands of incidents annually. Many criminologists consider it a better indicator of public safety trends than homicide because the sample size is larger and less subject to statistical noise. The drop in assaults suggests the homicide decline isn’t a fluke. Fewer people are being seriously attacked.
Robbery fell approximately 9%. Armed robberies of businesses and individuals both declined, though carjacking (a subcategory that MPD began tracking more carefully after the Eliza Fletcher case in 2022) decreased more sharply. The carjacking numbers in 2024 were the lowest since 2020.
Burglary dropped around 14%, continuing a multi-year downward trend that predates the pandemic. Better home security technology (video doorbells, wireless alarm systems) and the shift to remote work, which means more occupied homes during daytime hours, likely contribute to this decline. It’s one of the few categories where the long-term trend line is consistently positive.
Motor vehicle theft fell 39%, the single largest percentage decline of any major category. This deserves its own discussion because the drop is so dramatic. Memphis experienced an auto theft crisis from 2020 through 2023, driven largely by thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles with a steering column vulnerability that went viral on social media. The “Kia Boyz” trend peaked in Memphis in 2022-2023. By 2024, a combination of manufacturer recalls and software patches, MPD enforcement operations, and state legislation increasing penalties for auto theft brought the numbers down sharply. The 39% decline is real, though the baseline was so inflated that 2024’s auto theft numbers are still elevated compared to pre-2020 levels.
Larceny/theft showed a more modest decline of roughly 7%. This is the broadest and most heterogeneous category, covering everything from shoplifting to package theft to employee theft. Organized retail theft (which we’ve covered separately) muddies the larceny numbers because large-scale retail theft operations may be classified as simple larceny depending on how the report is written.
What Drove the Decline
No single factor explains a 13% drop in total crime and a 25% drop in homicides. Several things happened in 2024 that likely contributed, and separating their individual effects is nearly impossible.
MPD’s operational strategies shifted. Chief CJ Davis implemented data-driven deployment in 2024, concentrating patrol resources in the zip codes and intersections generating the most violent crime calls. This isn’t a new concept in policing (it’s essentially the CompStat model that NYPD pioneered in the 1990s), yet Memphis hadn’t applied it this aggressively before. The result was more police presence in the areas that needed it most, which research consistently shows reduces violent crime in the short term.
The Real Time Crime Center expanded its capabilities. MPD’s RTCC, which monitors live camera feeds and license plate readers across the city, added capacity in 2024. The center can now access over 4,000 cameras through the Connect 2 Memphis program, which integrates private business and residential camera feeds into the police monitoring network. This doesn’t prevent crime directly, yet it accelerates response times and improves case clearance rates, both of which increase the perceived risk of committing crimes in surveilled areas.
Mayor Young’s public safety task force, created in January 2024, coordinated multiple city agencies and community organizations around violence reduction. The task force focused on intervention programs targeting the small number of individuals most likely to be involved in violent crime (both as perpetrators and victims). This “focused deterrence” model has strong evidence behind it from other cities, and Memphis’s implementation in 2024 appears to have been a contributing factor.
National trends also played a role. Memphis wasn’t the only city that saw crime decline in 2024. Nationally, homicides fell in most major cities, continuing a correction from the 2020-2022 pandemic-era surge. Whatever caused the national crime spike (pandemic disruption, economic stress, reduced police activity during the 2020 protests, or some combination) appears to be fading. Memphis’s decline is steeper than the national average, which suggests local factors are amplifying a broader trend.
The Neighborhood Story
Citywide averages obscure the reality that crime in Memphis varies enormously by location. A resident of Germantown or Collierville (technically separate municipalities, though they’re part of the Memphis metro) experiences a completely different safety environment than someone in Frayser or Orange Mound.
Downtown Memphis saw the most dramatic improvement. Crime within the Downtown core fell 26.4% in 2024, driven by reduced property crime and fewer assaults. The Downtown Memphis Commission’s investment in security cameras, lighting, and contract security patrols likely contributed. The reopening of several Beale Street venues and the continued growth of the medical district also put more people on the street at more hours, which creates natural surveillance.
South Memphis and Whitehaven showed strong improvement in violent crime categories while property crime remained persistent. The Raines precinct area, which covers parts of Whitehaven and the neighborhoods along Elvis Presley Boulevard, had one of the largest homicide reductions in the city.
Hickory Hill and the Ridgeway area showed mixed results. Violent crime declined, matching the citywide trend, yet property crime (particularly auto theft and catalytic converter theft) remained elevated. The large apartment complexes along Kirby Parkway and Winchester Road continue to generate a high volume of calls for service.
The Poplar corridor from East Memphis through Germantown saw relatively modest changes because crime was already comparatively low in these areas. The improvements here were mainly in commercial burglary and shoplifting.
Memphis vs. Peer Cities
How does Memphis’s 2024 performance compare to similar cities? The comparison is complicated because every city defines and reports crime slightly differently, and full-year 2024 data isn’t available everywhere as of this writing. With that caveat, here’s what the preliminary numbers suggest.
Memphis’s homicide rate per 100,000 residents remains among the highest of any major American city. Even with 296 homicides, a city of roughly 630,000 people has a murder rate of approximately 47 per 100,000. For comparison, Nashville recorded around 100 homicides in 2024 with a similar population. St. Louis, which has historically competed with Memphis for the highest per-capita murder rate, is tracking a comparable decline.
The important comparison isn’t the absolute number. It’s the trajectory. Memphis’s 25% year-over-year decline in homicides outpaced most peer cities. If that trajectory holds for even one more year, Memphis could approach 2019 levels, which were themselves high by national standards yet represented a period many residents remember as more stable.
Jacksonville, another city often compared to Memphis by size and demographics, saw a smaller decline in 2024. Birmingham dropped at a rate closer to the national average. Memphis’s improvement appears to be outperforming the peer group, which strengthens the case that local interventions mattered beyond just the national trend.
The Perception Gap
Here’s the tension that city leaders, police, and the security industry all have to reckon with. Crime is down by every major measure. Residents don’t believe it.
A University of Memphis poll conducted in late 2024 found that 62% of respondents said they felt the city was “less safe” or “about the same” as the prior year. Only 23% said they felt safer. The numbers directly contradict the crime data.
This perception gap has real consequences. Property values in Memphis neighborhoods are influenced by perceived safety, not just actual crime rates. Business expansion decisions factor in perception. Convention and tourism bookings reflect how outsiders view Memphis’s safety profile.
Part of the gap is media-driven. Local news coverage emphasizes individual violent incidents, which are inherently more compelling than statistical trends. One widely shared video of a carjacking generates more public anxiety than a 39% reduction in the category it represents.
Part of it is personal experience. If your car was broken into last March, no citywide statistical improvement changes how you feel about your neighborhood. Crime is always personal.
And part of it is reasonable skepticism. Memphis has seen temporary crime declines before that didn’t hold. Residents who lived through the 2019 dip followed by the 2020-2021 surge have reason to wonder whether 2024’s numbers are a real turning point or another temporary trough.
What Remains Concerning
The 2024 data isn’t all positive. Several patterns deserve close watching in 2025.
Property crime is declining more slowly than violent crime. The 7% larceny decline and the persistent auto theft numbers (even with the 39% drop, they’re above 2019 levels) suggest that property crime requires different interventions than what’s working for violent crime. Targeted policing and violence interruption programs don’t directly address ORT groups or package thieves.
Certain zip codes, particularly 38109 (Westwood/Whitehaven), 38127 (Frayser), and 38118 (Hickory Hill), still account for a disproportionate share of violent crime. The citywide decline is real, yet these areas need sustained attention that goes beyond policing: job access, housing stability, youth programming, and community investment.
Domestic violence-related homicides didn’t decline at the same rate as street violence. This is a pattern observed in many cities. The interventions that reduce gang-related and drug-related killings don’t necessarily reach intimate partner violence, which requires a different set of prevention tools.
Police staffing remains a concern. MPD has been operating below its authorized strength for several years, and recruitment has been challenging nationwide. If the department can’t maintain the patrol levels that supported 2024’s data-driven deployment strategy, the gains could be fragile.
What the Numbers Mean for the Security Industry
The private security market in Memphis is shaped by both crime reality and crime perception. When crime drops and residents feel safer, you might expect demand for private security to decline. That hasn’t happened.
Commercial property managers are maintaining or increasing their security contracts. The reasons are partly about crime prevention and partly about tenant expectations. A Class A office building on Poplar Avenue isn’t going to drop its lobby security because citywide aggravated assaults fell 11%. The security presence is part of the property’s value proposition.
Residential security, particularly in apartment complexes and HOA-governed neighborhoods, tracks more closely with crime perception. As long as residents feel unsafe, they’ll support security spending. The perception gap described above means demand for residential security patrols is likely to remain strong in 2025 even if crime continues to decline.
The security industry should welcome the 2024 data for a different reason. A safer Memphis is a more economically active Memphis. More businesses, more construction, more events, more tourism, more commercial activity. All of that generates demand for security services. The industry grows when the city grows, not when the city suffers.
Memphis closed 2024 with its best crime numbers in years. Whether the city can sustain that improvement through 2025 will depend on the same combination of policing, technology, intervention programs, and community investment that produced it. The data says we’re heading in the right direction. The residents aren’t convinced yet. Earning that trust will take more than one year of good statistics.
It took Memphis years to earn its reputation. It won’t lose it in twelve months.