Franklin, NC is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns a C PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 29% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Franklin, NC shows violent crime at 251.3 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,901.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 29% 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
251.3/100K violent
2901.5/100K property
-29% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Franklin, NC
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Franklin reported 11 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 4,377. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
Comparable rate records
Franklin's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Franklin's 251.3 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Ayden (253.6), North Wilkesboro (254.5), Nags Head (255.6), Dallas (257.0). 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 314.8 per 100,000 in 2020 to 251.3 in 2024 (-20.2%). The highest observed value was 314.8 in 2020 and the lowest 184.2 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 8.0% of the 138 Part I offenses reported in Franklin for 2024, against a median of 11.6% across comparable North Carolina cities — a gap of 3.6 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
Position in the state cohort
Franklin sits mid-pack among comparable North Carolina cities
At 251.3 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Franklin ranks 111 of 206 — above 95 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -11.9% 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 counts dominate Franklin'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.
Based on 11 reported violent incidents in a population of 4,377. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
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.
Franklin's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 4.9 Census sq mi, Franklin logged 25.7 property and 2.2 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Franklin's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (62% of 138 offenses; mix index 4,469).
Violent offenses are only 8% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (4.9 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
+36.4%
184.2 → 251.3/100K
Property Crime Rate
+10.5%
2624.9 → 2901.5/100K
Property offenses lead Franklin's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs NC
Property Crime
127
2901.5
1711
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
85
1942
-
-
Burglary
34
776.8
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
8
182.8
-
-
Arson
1
22.8
-
-
Violent Crime
11
251.3
352
364.6
Aggravated Assault
7
159.9
-
-
Rape
4
91.4
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Robbery
0
0
-
-
Franklin Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Franklin 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 averagesRead the chart as a list
Franklin: 251 violent, 2902 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Canton: 159 violent, 1879 property per 100,000 (grade B)
North Wilkesboro: 255 violent, 2059 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Mount Olive: 304 violent, 2944 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Swansboro: 47 violent, 1872 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Southport: 89 violent, 1068 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Edenton: 378 violent, 1913 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Newport: 287 violent, 1455 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Raeford: 110 violent, 1432 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Franklin Police Department
Reporting agency for Franklin NIBRS-participating
Franklin Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Franklin's 138 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 Franklin in population. Their populations run from 4,273 to 4,538, against 4,377 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Franklin reported 11 violent crimes and 127 property crimes, for a total of 138 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Franklin?
From 2023 to 2024, Franklin's violent crime rate increased by 36.4%, and the property crime rate increased by 10.5%.
What is the most common crime in Franklin?
The most common crime type in Franklin is larceny-theft, accounting for 61.6% of all reported crimes (85 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Franklin 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 Franklin, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.