Clayton, NC is close to the national middle for violent crime, and earns a B PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 52% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Clayton, NC shows violent crime at 168.3 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,282.8 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 52% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
B safety grade
168.3/100K violent
1282.8/100K property
-52% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Clayton, NC
Comparable rate records
Clayton's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Clayton's 168.3 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Kannapolis (168.0), Jonesville (171.5), Chapel Hill (172.1), Troutman (172.5). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Position in the state cohort
Clayton sits mid-pack among comparable North Carolina cities
At 168.3 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Clayton ranks 138 of 206 — above 68 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -41.0% against the cohort median of 285.1. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Property-offense composition
Larceny-theft dominates the property total more than it does across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 82.9% of reported property offenses in Clayton, against a cohort median of 74.5%. The remainder is burglary (17) and motor vehicle theft (52). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 153.3 per 100,000 in 2020 to 168.3 in 2024 (+9.8%). The highest observed value was 168.3 in 2024 and the lowest 113.2 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Clayton's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Clayton's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 16.8 Census sq mi, Clayton logged 24.1 property and 3.2 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Clayton's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (73% of 457 offenses; mix index 5,601).
Violent offenses are only 12% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (16.8 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+21.1%
139 → 168.3/100K
Property Crime Rate
-17.7%
1558.4 → 1282.8/100K
Property offenses lead Clayton's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs NC
Property Crime
404
1282.8
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
335
1063.7
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
52
165.1
-
Burglary
17
54
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
53
168.3
364.6
Aggravated Assault
41
130.2
-
Rape
6
19.1
-
Robbery
6
19.1
-
Murder
0
0
-
Clayton Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Clayton property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Clayton Police Department
Reporting agency for Clayton NIBRS-participating
Clayton Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Clayton's 457 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in North Carolina
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the North Carolina cities closest to Clayton in population. Their populations run from 28,259 to 33,699, against 31,494 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Clayton at 168.3/100K violent and 1,282.8/100K property - matched below outside North Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Clayton reported 53 violent crimes and 404 property crimes, for a total of 457 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Clayton?
From 2023 to 2024, Clayton's violent crime rate increased by 21.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 17.7%.
What is the most common crime in Clayton?
The most common crime type in Clayton is larceny-theft, accounting for 73.3% of all reported crimes (335 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Clayton figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Clayton, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.