There were many Knoxville milestones and positive trends in 2025.

Crime was way down. So were traffic fatalities. Transit ridership was up. Neighborhood services – like brush pickup and pothole patching – were delivered with high quality, and on a massive scale.

Also, City government continued its historic and unprecedented investment and collaborative partnerships in affordable housing.

“Alongside the City’s dedicated team of 1,600 collaborative, hard-working, service-minded professionals, I’m eager to build on our momentum throughout 2026,” Mayor Indya Kincannon said. “We’ve accomplished so much together. Much more is still to come.”

At its core mission, City staff is charged with delivering efficient, effective services that improve public safety and enhance everyone’s quality of life.





Here are some highlights:

• Sidewalks – 11,187 linear feet in 2025 – are being replaced or built. Nearly 52 miles of streets were resurfaced last year.

• Vision Zero safety features are being designed and installed; 2025 marked the fewest traffic-related deaths on roads within the city limits since 2020.

• Crime was down – most notably, violent crime. The number of murders in 2025 decreased 26 percent, dropping from 23 in 2024 to 17 in 2025. That was the lowest in Knoxville since 2016.

• Non-fatal shootings also dropped 27 percent in 2025, which followed a 45 percent reduction in 2024.

• Reported robberies and motor vehicle thefts were also down – by 27 percent and by 22 percent, respectively.

• The Fire Department, meanwhile, responded to about 25,000 calls for service in 2025. KFD’s EMS Education Program received top state honors, and the department now has 77 EMTs, 197 Advanced EMTs, 32 Paramedics and 32 Critical Care life-saving professionals.





Then there were brilliant-with-the-basics accomplishments:

• Public Service crews patched 4,730 potholes on City-owned streets.

• Brush crews collected 18,000 tons of grass cuttings and vegetation curbside debris.

• City staff reviewed and inspected more than 47,000 private development projects.

• Knoxville Area Transit provided roughly 2.7 million rides in 2025.

• Finally – 2025 was memorable for progress made in creating more affordable housing.

Consider, as an example, one 30-day window of time this fall – when First Creek at Austin, Grosvenor Square and Callahan Flats opened. This represented new housing for 433 families – with a year-end total of 558 new apartments.

Mayor Kincannon and City Council in 2021 committed to the largest-ever investment in housing – $50 million over 10 years.

However, that pledge is being surpassed: The 2025-26 City budget allocates $8.2 million to affordable housing and another $1.3 million to support partners providing homelessness services.

For more highlights from 2025 – and a look back at some of the new unique-to-Knoxville public spaces that were created or recreated, like Covenant Health Park and Augusta Quarry – visit www.KnoxvilleTN.gov/YearInReview.