Lenoir, NC carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 27% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Lenoir, NC shows violent crime at 258.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,219.6 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 27% 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
258.2/100K violent
3219.6/100K property
-27% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Lenoir, NC
Comparable rate records
Lenoir's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Lenoir's 258.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Dallas (257.0), Nags Head (255.6), North Wilkesboro (254.5), Kenansville (262.5). 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 296.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 258.2 in 2024 (-12.9%). The highest observed value was 341.1 in 2021 and the lowest 209.3 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 64.8% of reported property offenses in Lenoir, against a cohort median of 74.6%. The remainder is burglary (166) and motor vehicle theft (40). 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 7.4% of the 633 Part I offenses reported in Lenoir for 2024, against a median of 11.6% across comparable North Carolina cities — a gap of 4.1 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
Lenoir sits mid-pack among comparable North Carolina cities
At 258.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Lenoir ranks 106 of 206 — above 100 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -9.4% 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 Lenoir'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.
Lenoir's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 20.8 Census sq mi, Lenoir logged 28.1 property and 2.3 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Lenoir's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (60% of 633 offenses; mix index 4,358).
Violent offenses are only 7% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (20.8 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
+20.5%
214.2 → 258.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
+8.8%
2960.2 → 3219.6/100K
Property offenses lead Lenoir's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs NC
Property Crime
586
3219.6
1711
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
380
2087.8
-
-
Burglary
166
912
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
40
219.8
-
-
Arson
8
44
-
-
Violent Crime
47
258.2
352
364.6
Aggravated Assault
29
159.3
-
-
Rape
9
49.4
-
-
Robbery
9
49.4
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Lenoir Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Lenoir 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
Lenoir Police Department
Reporting agency for Lenoir NIBRS-participating
Lenoir Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Lenoir's 633 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 Lenoir in population. Their populations run from 17,092 to 19,298, against 18,201 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Lenoir at 258.2/100K violent and 3,219.6/100K property - matched below outside North Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Lenoir reported 47 violent crimes and 586 property crimes, for a total of 633 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Lenoir?
From 2023 to 2024, Lenoir's violent crime rate increased by 20.5%, and the property crime rate increased by 8.8%.
What is the most common crime in Lenoir?
The most common crime type in Lenoir is larceny-theft, accounting for 60.0% of all reported crimes (380 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Lenoir 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 Lenoir, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.