Lexington, NC is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns a D PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 24% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Lexington, NC shows violent crime at 437.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,020.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 24% 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
437.2/100K violent
3020.3/100K property
+24% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Lexington, NC
Comparable rate records
Lexington's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Lexington's 437.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Erwin (436.4), Windsor (444.0), Greenville (453.4), High Point (454.8). 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
Lexington sits mid-pack among comparable North Carolina cities
At 437.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Lexington ranks 63 of 206 — above 143 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +65.9% 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 559.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 437.2 in 2024 (-21.9%). The highest observed value was 559.9 in 2020 and the lowest 437.2 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Lexington'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.
Lexington's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 19.2 Census sq mi, Lexington logged 31.3 property and 4.5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Lexington's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (59% of 688 offenses; mix index 4,034).
Violent offenses are only 13% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (19.2 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
-21%
553.7 → 437.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
+0.9%
2992 → 3020.3/100K
Property offenses lead Lexington's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs NC
Property Crime
601
3020.3
1711
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
408
2050.4
-
-
Burglary
128
643.2
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
65
326.6
-
-
Arson
7
35.2
-
-
Violent Crime
87
437.2
352
364.6
Aggravated Assault
59
296.5
-
-
Robbery
17
85.4
-
-
Rape
8
40.2
-
-
Murder
3
15.1
-
-
Lexington Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Lexington 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
Lexington Police Department
Reporting agency for Lexington NIBRS-participating
Lexington Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Lexington's 688 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 Lexington in population. Their populations run from 18,772 to 21,045, against 19,899 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Lexington at 437.2/100K violent and 3,020.3/100K property - matched below outside North Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Lexington reported 87 violent crimes and 601 property crimes, for a total of 688 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Lexington?
From 2023 to 2024, Lexington's violent crime rate decreased by 21%, and the property crime rate increased by 0.9%.
What is the most common crime in Lexington?
The most common crime type in Lexington is larceny-theft, accounting for 59.3% of all reported crimes (408 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Lexington 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 Lexington, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.