Wadesboro, NC carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 479% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Wadesboro, NC shows violent crime at 2,037.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 7,353.8 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 479% 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
2037.1/100K violent
7353.8/100K property
+479% vs U.S.
The verdict
Wadesboro earns an F safety grade: violent crime runs 479% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
F
PlainCrime safety grade
+479%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
0th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
7,353.8
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Wadesboro, NC
Position in the state cohort
Wadesboro reported the highest violent-crime rate among comparable North Carolina cities
At 2037.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Wadesboro ranks 1 of 206 — above 205 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +673.1% 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.
Comparable rate records
Wadesboro's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Wadesboro's 2037.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Laurinburg (1894.1), Plymouth (1861.8), Henderson (1791.6), Lumberton (1676.5). 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.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 21.7% of the 461 Part I offenses reported in Wadesboro for 2024, against a median of 11.4% across comparable North Carolina cities — a gap of 10.3 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 2375.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 2037.1 in 2024 (-14.2%). The highest observed value was 2621.1 in 2022 and the lowest 1841.0 in 2023. 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 64.5% of reported property offenses in Wadesboro, against a cohort median of 74.6%. The remainder is burglary (85) and motor vehicle theft (43). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Wadesboro'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.
Both rates shifted (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+10.7%
1841 → 2037.1/100K
Property Crime Rate
-10.5%
8213.6 → 7353.8/100K
Property offenses lead Wadesboro's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs NC
Property Crime
361
7353.8
1711
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
233
4746.4
-
-
Burglary
85
1731.5
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
43
875.9
-
-
Arson
2
40.7
-
-
Violent Crime
100
2037.1
352
364.6
Aggravated Assault
85
1731.5
-
-
Robbery
9
183.3
-
-
Murder
3
61.1
-
-
Rape
3
61.1
-
-
Wadesboro Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Wadesboro property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
7,353.8/100K↓10.5%vs 2023
Wadesboro violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
2,037.1/100K↑10.7%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
5,221
2375
7010.2
490
2021
Comparable
5,190
2138.7
5857.4
415
2022
Comparable
5,036
2621.1
7883.2
529
2023
Comparable
4,943
1841
8213.6
497
2024
Comparable
4,909
2037.1
7353.8
461
How Wadesboro sits among NC peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Wadesboro Police Department NIBRS-participating
Wadesboro's crime figures on this page originate from Wadesboro 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 Wadesboro in population. Their populations run from 4,713 to 5,066, against 4,909 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 Wadesboro's 2,037.1/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Wadesboro has a violent crime rate of 2037.1 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 7353.8 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Wadesboro, NC safe? ▼
Wadesboro receives a safety grade of F (High Risk), with a safety score of 0/100. The violent crime rate is 479% above the national average and 459% above the North Carolina average.
What is the population of Wadesboro, NC? ▼
The reporting population for Wadesboro is 4,909 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Wadesboro? ▼
In 2024, Wadesboro reported 100 violent crimes and 361 property crimes, for a total of 461 reported offenses.
How do Wadesboro's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Wadesboro recorded about one reported offense per 11 residents and one reported violent offense per 49 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Wadesboro? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Wadesboro's violent crime rate increased by 10.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 10.5%.
What is the most common crime in Wadesboro? ▼
The most common crime type in Wadesboro is larceny-theft, accounting for 50.5% of all reported crimes (233 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Wadesboro 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 Wadesboro, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.