Hillsborough, NC carries a PlainCrime D safety grade with violent crime 7% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Hillsborough, NC shows violent crime at 378 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 4,526 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 7% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade D from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
D safety grade
378/100K violent
4526/100K property
+7% vs U.S.
The verdict
Hillsborough earns a D safety grade: violent crime runs 7% above the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
D
PlainCrime safety grade
+7%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
22nd
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
4,526
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Hillsborough, NC
Comparable rate records
Hillsborough's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Hillsborough's 378.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Edenton (378.2), Belmont (382.8), Southern Pines (368.6), Chadbourn (390.1). 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
Hillsborough sits mid-pack among comparable North Carolina cities
At 378.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Hillsborough ranks 72 of 206 — above 134 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +43.5% 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
Larceny-theft dominates the property total more than it does across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 89.2% of reported property offenses in Hillsborough, against a cohort median of 74.5%. The remainder is burglary (22) and motor vehicle theft (26). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 7.7% of the 480 Part I offenses reported in Hillsborough for 2024, against a median of 11.6% across comparable North Carolina cities — a gap of 3.9 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 415.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 378.0 in 2024 (-8.9%). The highest observed value was 521.2 in 2021 and the lowest 295.6 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Hillsborough'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.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+27.9%
295.6 → 378/100K
Property Crime Rate
-2.6%
4647.4 → 4526/100K
Property offenses lead Hillsborough's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs NC
Property Crime
443
4526
1711
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
395
4035.6
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
26
265.6
-
-
Burglary
22
224.8
-
-
Arson
0
0
-
-
Violent Crime
37
378
352
364.6
Aggravated Assault
28
286.1
-
-
Robbery
5
51.1
-
-
Murder
2
20.4
-
-
Rape
2
20.4
-
-
Hillsborough Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Hillsborough property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
4,526/100K↓2.6%vs 2023
Hillsborough violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
378/100K↑27.9%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
7,226
415.2
5189.6
405
2021
Comparable
7,291
521.2
4375.3
357
2022
Comparable
9,732
513.8
5630.9
598
2023
Comparable
9,812
295.6
4647.4
485
2024
Comparable
9,788
378
4526
480
How Hillsborough sits among NC peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Hillsborough Police Department NIBRS-participating
Hillsborough's crime figures on this page originate from Hillsborough 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 Hillsborough in population. Their populations run from 8,786 to 10,590, against 9,788 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 Hillsborough's 378/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Hillsborough has a violent crime rate of 378 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 4526 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Hillsborough, NC safe? ▼
Hillsborough receives a safety grade of D (Below Average), with a safety score of 32/100. The violent crime rate is 7% above the national average and 4% above the North Carolina average.
What is the population of Hillsborough, NC? ▼
The reporting population for Hillsborough is 9,788 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Hillsborough? ▼
In 2024, Hillsborough reported 37 violent crimes and 443 property crimes, for a total of 480 reported offenses.
How do Hillsborough's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Hillsborough recorded about one reported offense per 20 residents and one reported violent offense per 265 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Hillsborough? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Hillsborough's violent crime rate increased by 27.9%, and the property crime rate decreased by 2.6%.
What is the most common crime in Hillsborough? ▼
The most common crime type in Hillsborough is larceny-theft, accounting for 82.3% of all reported crimes (395 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Hillsborough 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 Hillsborough, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.