Smithfield, NC is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns an F PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 39% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Smithfield, NC shows violent crime at 490.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,563.6 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 39% 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
490.2/100K violent
3563.6/100K property
+39% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Smithfield, NC
Comparable rate records
Smithfield's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Smithfield's 490.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Raleigh (488.8), Wilmington (482.8), Waynesville (499.4), Siler City (479.0). 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.
Position in the state cohort
Smithfield sits mid-pack among comparable North Carolina cities
At 490.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Smithfield ranks 54 of 206 — above 152 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +86.0% 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 84.7% of reported property offenses in Smithfield, against a cohort median of 74.5%. The remainder is burglary (43) and motor vehicle theft (27). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window close to where it started
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 491.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 490.2 in 2024 (-0.3%). The highest observed value was 622.8 in 2022 and the lowest 415.2 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Smithfield'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.
Smithfield's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 12.7 Census sq mi, Smithfield logged 36.1 property and 5 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Smithfield's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (74% of 521 offenses; mix index 5,747).
Violent offenses are only 12% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (12.7 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
+18.1%
415.2 → 490.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
-9.8%
3952.7 → 3563.6/100K
Property offenses lead Smithfield's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs NC
Property Crime
458
3563.6
1711
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
388
3019
-
-
Burglary
43
334.6
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
27
210.1
-
-
Arson
2
15.6
-
-
Violent Crime
63
490.2
352
364.6
Aggravated Assault
53
412.4
-
-
Robbery
8
62.2
-
-
Murder
1
7.8
-
-
Rape
1
7.8
-
-
Smithfield Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Smithfield 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
Smithfield Police Department
Reporting agency for Smithfield NIBRS-participating
Smithfield Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Smithfield's 521 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 Smithfield in population. Their populations run from 11,459 to 14,332, against 12,852 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Smithfield at 490.2/100K violent and 3,563.6/100K property - matched below outside North Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Smithfield reported 63 violent crimes and 458 property crimes, for a total of 521 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Smithfield?
From 2023 to 2024, Smithfield's violent crime rate increased by 18.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 9.8%.
What is the most common crime in Smithfield?
The most common crime type in Smithfield is larceny-theft, accounting for 74.5% of all reported crimes (388 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Smithfield 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 Smithfield, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.