North Carolina Crime Rates & City Safety Scores
Population-adjusted FBI reporting rates; see the city profiles below.
Key facts
- 01
North Carolina displays a 16.2-point adjusted-score range in its 2025 source-year cohort: Raleigh, North Carolina at 33.91 points out of 100 versus Winston-Salem, North Carolina at 17.71.
- 02
North Carolina displays 6 jurisdiction profiles from a scoring run containing 289 reportable jurisdictions in its 2025 source-year directory; 6 displayed profiles have scores.
- 03
North Carolina has 3 displayed jurisdictions with decreasing reported trajectories versus 1 increasing and 2 stable, comparing weighted 2024 reporting with 2025.
- 04
Charlotte, North Carolina has a reporting population of 886,283 residents versus 209,692 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in the 2025 source-year displayed cohort.
Quick answer
In the Safety Atlas 2026 public safety index, the highest-scoring city in North Carolina is Raleigh with an adjusted safety score of 33.91 out of 100, ranked across 6 tracked jurisdictions using 2025 FBI reporting.
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North Carolina city safety rankings
Ranked by adjusted Safety Atlas score. The table lists the 6 most populous jurisdictions in this directory; each rank is calculated within this displayed 6-jurisdiction cohort.
| City / Jurisdiction | Cohort Rank | Population | Safety Score | Overall Trend | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raleigh | #1 of 6 | 470,763 | 33.91 | ↓ Decreasing | View Report → |
| Durham | #2 of 6 | 288,465 | 28.57 | → Stable | View Report → |
| Fayetteville | #3 of 6 | 209,692 | 23.34 | → Stable | View Report → |
| Greensboro | #4 of 6 | 298,564 | 21.51 | ↓ Decreasing | View Report → |
| Charlotte | #5 of 6 | 886,283 | 17.84 | ↓ Decreasing | View Report → |
| Winston-Salem | #6 of 6 | 250,887 | 17.71 | ↑ Increasing | View Report → |
* Trajectory trends compare weighted year-over-year reporting from 2024 to 2025. Scores describe relative reported rates, not personal risk. Cohort rank covers only the 6 jurisdictions listed above.
Data, definitions and reuse
Violent: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault. Property: burglary, larceny, vehicle theft, arson. Monthly counts are summed over the agencies that reported each month, and agency coverage changes over time.
| Month | Violent | Property | Agencies reporting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 5109 | 29633 | 342 |
| Feb | 4515 | 26900 | 340 |
| Mar | 5497 | 29841 | 339 |
| Apr | 5524 | 29587 | 337 |
| May | 5782 | 31153 | 336 |
| Jun | 5737 | 30177 | 333 |
| Jul | 5699 | 31675 | 330 |
| Aug | 5737 | 31487 | 328 |
| Sep | 5574 | 30522 | 324 |
| Oct | 4968 | 28238 | 322 |
| Nov | 4749 | 25344 | 318 |
| Dec | 4206 | 25426 | 318 |
Reuse under CC BY 4.0; indicate changes. Embed code:
<img src="https://www.safetyatlas.us/img/charts/north-carolina-crime-trend-2025.webp" alt="Chart of North Carolina crime statistics: North Carolina agencies reported 63,097 violent offenses in 2025. Between 318 to 342 agencies reported each month, so the total is not compared with 2024. Shows violent and property offenses per month." width="1200" height="675" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%;height:auto">
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.safetyatlas.us/safety/nc/">Safety Atlas, North Carolina</a>. <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>.</p>
North Carolina in 7 numbers
- Every major offense fell in 2025. Motor vehicle theft -22% (51,712 to 40,442), robbery -20%, homicide -17%, aggravated assault -15%, burglary and larceny -10% each.
- Almost half of all reports are property crime. 426,236 of 926,864 reports (46.0%); larceny-theft alone is 250,323 (27.0%).
- Clearances skew toward violent crime. 69% of homicides cleared vs 12% of motor vehicle thefts and 16% of larcenies (2025, reports cleared divided by reports received, reporting agencies only).
- Homicides fell by nearly a fifth. 1,346 reports in 2025 vs 1,628 in 2024 (-17%) across reporting agencies.
- The biggest volume is not violent. Simple assault (149,738) alone outweighs the entire personal-safety total (66,273, 7.2% of reports).
- Watch the monthly shape. Larceny-theft peaked in Jul (22,688) and troughed in Nov (18,374), a 1.2× swing inside a single year.
- These are reporting-agency sums. 205 of 439 agencies reported motor vehicle theft in December 2025 (vs 229 in January); totals reflect who reported, not a census of crime.
Takeaways are computed from summed FBI CDE reported counts (source year 2025, 439 agencies in file). They describe reported data, not forecasts; check the methodology and coverage notes before reuse.
Every number on this page ships in the North Carolina workbook.
North Carolina monthly trend: reporting-agency sums through December 2025
Annual totals hide timing. The bars below show 2025 reported counts per month summed across reporting agencies for three indicator offenses. Counts only; there is no honest monthly denominator at this grain, so no rates are shown.
Larceny-theft, month by month
↓ Decreasing, 250323 reports vs 278650 in 2024 (down 10% in reported data).
| Month | Count | Agencies | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 20,634 | 237 | Full |
| Feb 2025 | 18,931 | 235 | Full |
| Mar 2025 | 21,148 | 235 | Full |
| Apr 2025 | 21,089 | 231 | Full |
| May 2025 | 22,522 | 234 | Full |
| Jun 2025 | 21,989 | 230 | Full |
| Jul 2025 | 22,688 | 228 | Full |
| Aug 2025 | 22,310 | 225 | Full |
| Sep 2025 | 21,593 | 222 | Full |
| Oct 2025 | 20,624 | 219 | Full |
| Nov 2025 | 18,374 | 216 | Full |
| Dec 2025 | 18,421 | 212 | Full |
Simple assault, month by month
→ Stable, 149738 reports vs 154464 in 2024 (about level in reported data).
| Month | Count | Agencies | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 11,375 | 189 | Full |
| Feb 2025 | 11,262 | 188 | Full |
| Mar 2025 | 13,297 | 188 | Full |
| Apr 2025 | 12,844 | 184 | Full |
| May 2025 | 13,508 | 187 | Full |
| Jun 2025 | 12,402 | 183 | Full |
| Jul 2025 | 12,451 | 181 | Full |
| Aug 2025 | 12,880 | 179 | Full |
| Sep 2025 | 13,550 | 177 | Full |
| Oct 2025 | 13,026 | 174 | Full |
| Nov 2025 | 12,061 | 172 | Full |
| Dec 2025 | 11,082 | 167 | Full |
Drug/Narcotic Violations, month by month
→ Stable, 104134 reports vs 99400 in 2024 (about level in reported data).
| Month | Count | Agencies | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 8,277 | 193 | Full |
| Feb 2025 | 8,371 | 192 | Full |
| Mar 2025 | 9,743 | 192 | Full |
| Apr 2025 | 9,169 | 188 | Full |
| May 2025 | 9,216 | 191 | Full |
| Jun 2025 | 8,630 | 187 | Full |
| Jul 2025 | 9,265 | 185 | Full |
| Aug 2025 | 8,890 | 182 | Full |
| Sep 2025 | 8,866 | 180 | Full |
| Oct 2025 | 8,670 | 177 | Full |
| Nov 2025 | 7,904 | 175 | Full |
| Dec 2025 | 7,133 | 169 | Full |
Clearances: what got cleared in 2025
69% of homicides cleared vs 12% of motor vehicle thefts, clearance follows violent crime, not volume.
| Offense | Reported | Cleared | Clearance rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 1,346 | 931 | 69.2% |
| Aggravated Assault | 48,628 | 21,043 | 43.3% |
| Robbery | 8,302 | 2,857 | 34.4% |
| Burglary | 57,084 | 11,504 | 20.2% |
| Larceny-theft | 250,323 | 40,791 | 16.3% |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 40,442 | 4,936 | 12.2% |
Clearances ÷ reports received; clearances may concern earlier reports, so this is not a solve rate.
Monthly counts summed over reporting agencies, FBI CDE source year 2025. A hyphen (-) means not reported, not zero. Totals reflect who reported, not a census of crime.
Downloads: North Carolina monthly series (JSON) · same data (CSV) · build manifest
North Carolina city reports
- Raleigh safety report: #1 of 6, population 470,763, score 33.91, and the displayed trajectory is ↓ Decreasing.
- Durham safety report: #2 of 6, population 288,465, score 28.57, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable.
- Fayetteville safety report: #3 of 6, population 209,692, score 23.34, and the displayed trajectory is → Stable.
- Greensboro safety report: #4 of 6, population 298,564, score 21.51, and the displayed trajectory is ↓ Decreasing.
- Charlotte safety report: #5 of 6, population 886,283, score 17.84, and the displayed trajectory is ↓ Decreasing.
- Winston-Salem safety report: #6 of 6, population 250,887, score 17.71, and the displayed trajectory is ↑ Increasing.
Reading the comparison
Scores compare reported rates; they do not predict personal risk. Methodology · Coverage
Monthly count comparisons
North Carolina reporting agencies recorded 22,688 larceny-theft offenses in Jul 2025 versus 18,374 in Nov 2025, a difference of 4,314 reports; 228 agencies reported in the peak-count month compared with 216 in the minimum-count month, within 12 displayed months totaling 250,323 reports (FBI CDE reporting-agency sums, not statewide population rates).
North Carolina reporting agencies recorded 13,550 simple assault offenses in Sep 2025 versus 11,082 in Dec 2025, a difference of 2,468 reports; 177 agencies reported in the peak-count month compared with 167 in the minimum-count month, within 12 displayed months totaling 149,738 reports (FBI CDE reporting-agency sums, not statewide population rates).
North Carolina reporting agencies recorded 9,743 drug/narcotic violations offenses in Mar 2025 versus 7,133 in Dec 2025, a difference of 2,610 reports; 192 agencies reported in the peak-count month compared with 169 in the minimum-count month, within 12 displayed months totaling 104,134 reports (FBI CDE reporting-agency sums, not statewide population rates).
North Carolina reporting agencies recorded 931 cleared homicide offenses against 1,346 reports received in 2025 (69.2%), compared with 4,936 cleared motor vehicle theft offenses against 40,442 reports (12.2%), a 57.0-percentage-point difference between the displayed clearance ratios; clearances can concern earlier reports.
Raleigh, North Carolina records 33.91 adjusted score points out of 100 in the 2025 source-year directory, 10.10 points above the displayed scored-cohort mean of 23.81; its reporting population of 470,763 residents accounts for 19.6% of the 2,404,654 residents summed across the 6 displayed jurisdiction populations.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina records 17.71 adjusted score points out of 100 in the 2025 source-year directory, 6.10 points below the displayed scored-cohort mean of 23.81; its reporting population of 250,887 residents accounts for 10.4% of the 2,404,654 residents summed across the 6 displayed jurisdiction populations.
Charlotte, North Carolina records 17.84 adjusted score points out of 100 in the 2025 source-year directory, 5.97 points below the displayed scored-cohort mean of 23.81; its reporting population of 886,283 residents accounts for 36.9% of the 2,404,654 residents summed across the 6 displayed jurisdiction populations.
North Carolina reporting-agency sums contain 250,323 larceny-theft reports in 2025 versus 278,650 in 2024, 28,327 reports (10.2%) fewer across the two complete twelve-month source series; monthly reporting participation ranges from 212 to 249 agencies across those years, so the count change includes differences in participation and is not a population-adjusted rate change.
North Carolina reporting-agency sums contain 149,738 simple assault reports in 2025 versus 154,464 in 2024, 4,726 reports (3.1%) fewer across the two complete twelve-month source series; monthly reporting participation ranges from 167 to 199 agencies across those years, so the count change includes differences in participation and is not a population-adjusted rate change.
North Carolina reporting-agency sums contain 86,257 vandalism reports in 2025 versus 98,145 in 2024, 11,888 reports (12.1%) fewer across the two complete twelve-month source series; monthly reporting participation ranges from 168 to 205 agencies across those years, so the count change includes differences in participation and is not a population-adjusted rate change.
How to read the North Carolina directory
The scoring run contains 289 reportable jurisdictions in North Carolina. This public directory displays the 6 most populous jurisdictions in the current scored comparison set, and each displayed city's rank is calculated within this displayed 6-jurisdiction cohort.
Within the displayed cohort, Raleigh has the highest adjusted score at 33.91, and Winston-Salem has the lowest at 17.71. The public-cohort range is 16.2 points; use the offense-rate tables on each city profile to understand that spread.
Current trajectories in the displayed cohort: 3 decreasing, 2 stable, and 1 increasing. Trends compare weighted 2024 and 2025 reporting and do not forecast future incidents.
Review the scoring method, coverage report, and buyer checklist before citing or purchasing data.
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