Southport, NC carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 75% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Southport, NC shows violent crime at 89 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,068.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 75% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A safety grade
89/100K violent
1068.1/100K property
-75% vs U.S.
The verdict
Southport earns an A safety grade: violent crime runs 75% below the U.S. average, placing it safer than most U.S. cities.
A
PlainCrime safety grade
-75%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
74th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
1,068.1
property crimes per 100K
Based on 4 reported violent incidents in a population of 4,494. 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.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Southport, NC
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Southport reported 4 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 4,494. 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
Southport's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Southport's 89.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Boone (89.9), Spruce Pine (91.4), Winterville (82.4), Leland (96.5). 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.
Position in the state cohort
Southport reported a lower violent-crime rate than most comparable North Carolina cities
At 89.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Southport ranks 169 of 206 — above 37 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -68.8% 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.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 7.7% of the 52 Part I offenses reported in Southport 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.
Property-offense composition
Larceny-theft dominates the property total more than it does across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 83.3% of reported property offenses in Southport, against a cohort median of 74.5%. The remainder is burglary (7) and motor vehicle theft (1). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Southport'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 4 reported violent incidents in a population of 4,494. 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.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-4.7%
1120.5 → 1068.1/100K
Property offenses lead Southport's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs NC
Property Crime
48
1068.1
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
40
890.1
-
Burglary
7
155.8
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
1
22.3
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
4
89
364.6
Aggravated Assault
4
89
-
Murder
0
0
-
Rape
0
0
-
Robbery
0
0
-
Southport Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Southport property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
1,068.1/100K↓4.7%vs 2023
Southport violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
89/100K
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
4,102
0
585.1
24
2021
Comparable
4,226
71
1112.2
50
2022
Comparable
4,253
235.1
1528.3
75
2023
Comparable
4,373
0
1120.5
49
2024
Comparable
4,494
89
1068.1
52
How Southport sits among NC peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Southport Police Department NIBRS-participating
Southport's crime figures on this page originate from Southport 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 Southport in population. Their populations run from 4,377 to 4,580, against 4,494 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 Southport's 89/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Southport has a violent crime rate of 89 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1068.1 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Southport, NC safe? ▼
Southport receives a safety grade of A (Safe), with a safety score of 82/100. The violent crime rate is 75% below the national average and 76% below the North Carolina average.
What is the population of Southport, NC? ▼
The reporting population for Southport is 4,494 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Southport? ▼
In 2024, Southport reported 4 violent crimes and 48 property crimes, for a total of 52 reported offenses.
How do Southport's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Southport recorded about one reported offense per 86 residents and one reported violent offense per 1124 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Southport? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Southport's violent crime rate data is unavailable, and the property crime rate decreased by 4.7%.
What is the most common crime in Southport? ▼
The most common crime type in Southport is larceny-theft, accounting for 76.9% of all reported crimes (40 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Southport 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 Southport, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.