Zebulon, NC is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns a C PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 7% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Zebulon, NC shows violent crime at 328.3 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,452.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 7% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
328.3/100K violent
2452.7/100K property
-7% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Zebulon, NC
Comparable rate records
Zebulon's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the North Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Zebulon's 328.3 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Warsaw (328.7), Thomasville (330.6), Shallotte (324.4), Carolina Beach (332.5). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 524.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 328.3 in 2024 (-37.4%). The highest observed value was 577.6 in 2022 and the lowest 328.3 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Zebulon sits mid-pack among comparable North Carolina cities
At 328.3 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Zebulon ranks 87 of 206 — above 119 of the 205 other North Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +24.6% 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 counts dominate Zebulon'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.
Zebulon's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 6.6 Census sq mi, Zebulon logged 38.3 property and 5.1 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Zebulon's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (67% of 288 offenses; mix index 4,776).
Violent offenses are only 12% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (6.6 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-19.4%
3043.3 → 2452.7/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-14.9%
385.6 → 328.3/100K
Property offenses lead Zebulon's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
254
2452.7
1711
Larceny-Theft
192
1854
-
Burglary
38
366.9
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
24
231.7
-
Arson
2
19.3
-
Violent Crime
34
328.3
352
Aggravated Assault
26
251.1
-
Robbery
7
67.6
-
Murder
1
9.7
-
Rape
0
0
-
Zebulon Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Zebulon 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
Zebulon Police Department
Reporting agency for Zebulon NIBRS-participating
Zebulon Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Zebulon's 288 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 Zebulon in population. Their populations run from 9,619 to 10,926, against 10,356 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Zebulon at 328.3/100K violent and 2,452.7/100K property - matched below outside North Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Zebulon reported 34 violent crimes and 254 property crimes, for a total of 288 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Zebulon?
From 2023 to 2024, Zebulon's violent crime rate decreased by 14.9%, and the property crime rate decreased by 19.4%.
What is the most common crime in Zebulon?
The most common crime type in Zebulon is larceny-theft, accounting for 66.7% of all reported crimes (192 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Zebulon 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 Zebulon, NC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.