Whiteville, NC carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 53% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Whiteville, NC shows violent crime at 537.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 7,971.6 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 53% 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
537.2/100K violent
7971.6/100K property
+53% vs U.S.
The verdict
Whiteville earns an F safety grade: violent crime runs 53% above the U.S. average, placing it among the highest-crime cities in the country.
F
PlainCrime safety grade
+53%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
12th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
7,971.6
property crimes per 100K
Based on 25 reported violent incidents in a population of 4,654. 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 Whiteville, NC
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Whiteville reported 25 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 4,654. 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 1095.8 per 100,000 in 2020 to 537.2 in 2024 (-51.0%). The highest observed value was 1170.6 in 2023 and the lowest 537.2 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Comparable rate records
Whiteville's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Whiteville's 537.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Spring Lake (541.1), Stantonsburg (528.4), Forest City (527.7), Beulaville (524.0). 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
Whiteville reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable North Carolina cities
At 537.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Whiteville ranks 45 of 206 — above 161 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +103.9% 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.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 6.3% of the 396 Part I offenses reported in Whiteville for 2024, against a median of 11.6% across comparable North Carolina cities — a gap of 5.2 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 counts dominate Whiteville'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 25 reported violent incidents in a population of 4,654. 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.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-54.1%
1170.6 → 537.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
-17%
9603.3 → 7971.6/100K
Property offenses lead Whiteville's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs NC
Property Crime
371
7971.6
1711
1929.5
Larceny-Theft
271
5822.9
-
-
Burglary
73
1568.5
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
27
580.1
-
-
Arson
1
21.5
-
-
Violent Crime
25
537.2
352
364.6
Aggravated Assault
14
300.8
-
-
Rape
6
128.9
-
-
Robbery
5
107.4
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Whiteville Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Whiteville property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
7,971.6/100K↓17%vs 2023
Whiteville violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
537.2/100K↓54.1%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
5,293
1095.8
8785.2
523
2021
Comparable
5,231
898.5
6365.9
380
2022
Comparable
4,630
1015.1
9071.3
467
2023
Comparable
4,613
1170.6
9603.3
497
2024
Comparable
4,654
537.2
7971.6
396
How Whiteville sits among NC peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Whiteville Police Department NIBRS-participating
Whiteville's crime figures on this page originate from Whiteville 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 Whiteville in population. Their populations run from 4,542 to 4,732, against 4,654 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 Whiteville's 537.2/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Whiteville has a violent crime rate of 537.2 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 7971.6 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Whiteville, NC safe? ▼
Whiteville receives a safety grade of F (High Risk), with a safety score of 17/100. The violent crime rate is 53% above the national average and 47% above the North Carolina average.
What is the population of Whiteville, NC? ▼
The reporting population for Whiteville is 4,654 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Whiteville? ▼
In 2024, Whiteville reported 25 violent crimes and 371 property crimes, for a total of 396 reported offenses.
How do Whiteville's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Whiteville recorded about one reported offense per 12 residents and one reported violent offense per 186 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Whiteville? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Whiteville's violent crime rate decreased by 54.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 17%.
What is the most common crime in Whiteville? ▼
The most common crime type in Whiteville is larceny-theft, accounting for 68.4% of all reported crimes (271 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Whiteville 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 Whiteville, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.