Forest City, NC carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 50% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Forest City, NC shows violent crime at 527.7 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 5,290.2 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 50% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
F safety grade
527.7/100K violent
5290.2/100K property
+50% vs U.S.
The verdict
Forest City earns an F safety grade: violent crime runs 50% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
F
PlainCrime safety grade
+50%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
13th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
5,290.2
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Forest City, NC
Comparable rate records
Forest City's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Forest City's 527.7 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Stantonsburg (528.4), Beulaville (524.0), Washington (520.0), Sylva (519.1). 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
Forest City reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable North Carolina cities
At 527.7 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Forest City ranks 47 of 206 — above 159 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +100.3% 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 687.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 527.7 in 2024 (-23.2%). The highest observed value was 703.6 in 2021 and the lowest 527.7 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Forest 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.
Small-city offense counts above are voluntary UCR submissions, not neighbourhood advice. Year-to-year swings can look large when the population base is modest.
Both rates shifted (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-20.8%
666.6 → 527.7/100K
Property Crime Rate
-19%
6529.7 → 5290.2/100K
Property offenses lead Forest City's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs NC
Property Crime
391
5290.2
1711
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
284
3842.5
-
-
Burglary
96
1298.9
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
11
148.8
-
-
Arson
3
40.6
-
-
Violent Crime
39
527.7
352
364.6
Aggravated Assault
28
378.8
-
-
Rape
7
94.7
-
-
Robbery
4
54.1
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Forest City Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Forest City property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
5,290.2/100K↓19%vs 2023
Forest City violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
527.7/100K↓20.8%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
7,130
687.2
7110.8
556
2021
Comparable
7,106
703.6
6431.2
507
2022
Comparable
7,353
680
6799.9
550
2023
Comparable
7,351
666.6
6529.7
529
2024
Comparable
7,391
527.7
5290.2
430
How Forest City sits among NC peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Forest City Police Department NIBRS-participating
Forest City's crime figures on this page originate from Forest City Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
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 Forest City in population. Their populations run from 6,903 to 8,031, against 7,391 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These North Carolina cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Forest City's 527.7/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Forest City has a violent crime rate of 527.7 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 5290.2 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Forest City, NC safe? ▼
Forest City receives a safety grade of F (High Risk), with a safety score of 18/100. The violent crime rate is 50% above the national average and 45% above the North Carolina average.
What is the population of Forest City, NC? ▼
The reporting population for Forest City is 7,391 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Forest City? ▼
In 2024, Forest City reported 39 violent crimes and 391 property crimes, for a total of 430 reported offenses.
How do Forest City's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Forest City recorded about one reported offense per 17 residents and one reported violent offense per 190 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Forest City? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Forest City's violent crime rate decreased by 20.8%, and the property crime rate decreased by 19%.
What is the most common crime in Forest City? ▼
The most common crime type in Forest City is larceny-theft, accounting for 66.0% of all reported crimes (284 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Forest City is sourced from FBI UCR Table 8 for 2024; rates use that row's population.
Small-city rows use the same per-100,000 formula; a few unreported years can leave gaps in the trend table. Verify the agency's submission on FBI.gov UCR.
Disclaimer (small city): UCR counts here are informational only. They are not a victimization probability. Source: FBI UCR Program.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Forest City, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.