Cornelius, NC is safer than most U.S. cities, and earns an A PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 70% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Cornelius, NC shows violent crime at 103.9 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,035.6 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 70% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A safety grade
103.9/100K violent
1035.6/100K property
-70% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Cornelius, NC
Comparable rate records
Cornelius's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Cornelius's 103.9 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Holden Beach (105.8), Valdese (106.3), Pittsboro (101.3), Archdale (107.1). 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
Cornelius reported a lower violent-crime rate than most comparable North Carolina cities
At 103.9 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Cornelius ranks 161 of 206 — above 45 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -63.6% 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 126.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 103.9 in 2024 (-17.7%). The highest observed value was 143.8 in 2023 and the lowest 103.9 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Cornelius'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.
Cornelius's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 12.7 Census sq mi, Cornelius logged 27.5 property and 2.8 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Cornelius's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (70% of 384 offenses; mix index 5,196).
Violent offenses are only 9% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (12.7 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
-27.7%
143.8 → 103.9/100K
Property Crime Rate
+18.4%
874.8 → 1035.6/100K
Property offenses lead Cornelius's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs NC
Property Crime
349
1035.6
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
269
798.2
-
Burglary
55
163.2
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
25
74.2
-
Arson
4
11.9
-
Violent Crime
35
103.9
364.6
Aggravated Assault
23
68.3
-
Rape
7
20.8
-
Robbery
4
11.9
-
Murder
1
3
-
Cornelius Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Cornelius 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
Cornelius Police Department
Reporting agency for Cornelius NIBRS-participating
Cornelius Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Cornelius's 384 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 Cornelius in population. Their populations run from 31,422 to 36,720, against 33,699 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Cornelius at 103.9/100K violent and 1,035.6/100K property - matched below outside North Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Cornelius reported 35 violent crimes and 349 property crimes, for a total of 384 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Cornelius?
From 2023 to 2024, Cornelius's violent crime rate decreased by 27.7%, and the property crime rate increased by 18.4%.
What is the most common crime in Cornelius?
The most common crime type in Cornelius is larceny-theft, accounting for 70.1% of all reported crimes (269 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Cornelius 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 Cornelius, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.