Elizabeth City, NC is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns a C PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 3% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Elizabeth City, NC shows violent crime at 341 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,386.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 3% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
341/100K violent
2386.7/100K property
-3% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Elizabeth City, NC
Comparable rate records
Elizabeth City's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Elizabeth City's 341.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Rowland (337.1), Graham (346.3), Carolina Beach (332.5), Thomasville (330.6). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 447.5 per 100,000 in 2020 to 341.0 in 2024 (-23.8%). The highest observed value was 533.3 in 2022 and the lowest 341.0 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Elizabeth City sits mid-pack among comparable North Carolina cities
At 341.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Elizabeth City ranks 82 of 206 — above 124 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +29.4% against the cohort median of 263.5. 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
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 66.6% of reported property offenses in Elizabeth City, against a cohort median of 74.6%. The remainder is burglary (96) and motor vehicle theft (56). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Elizabeth City'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.
Elizabeth City's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 11.8 Census sq mi, Elizabeth City logged 38.6 property and 5.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Elizabeth City leans on larceny-theft at 58% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,939.
Violent offenses are only 13% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (11.8 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
-27.9%
472.7 → 341/100K
Property Crime Rate
-2.5%
2448.5 → 2386.7/100K
Property offenses lead Elizabeth City's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
455
2386.7
1711
Larceny-Theft
303
1589.4
-
Burglary
96
503.6
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
56
293.7
-
Arson
3
15.7
-
Violent Crime
65
341
352
Aggravated Assault
47
246.5
-
Robbery
9
47.2
-
Rape
6
31.5
-
Murder
3
15.7
-
Elizabeth City Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Elizabeth City 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
Elizabeth City Police Department
Reporting agency for Elizabeth City NIBRS-participating
Elizabeth City Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Elizabeth City's 520 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 Elizabeth City in population. Their populations run from 18,201 to 20,024, against 19,064 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Elizabeth City at 341/100K violent and 2,386.7/100K property - matched below outside North Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Elizabeth City reported 65 violent crimes and 455 property crimes, for a total of 520 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Elizabeth City?
From 2023 to 2024, Elizabeth City's violent crime rate decreased by 27.9%, and the property crime rate decreased by 2.5%.
What is the most common crime in Elizabeth City?
The most common crime type in Elizabeth City is larceny-theft, accounting for 58.3% of all reported crimes (303 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Elizabeth City 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 Elizabeth City, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.