County crime profile · 2024 · large county · property-led

Rutherford County, NC

At 64,444 residents, Rutherford County is a large county in North Carolina. FBI UCR county totals below are read before any per-100,000 rate (Census denominator when matched).

Data updated 2026-07-13

428
Property offenses
80
Violent offenses
508
Total · 2024

Rutherford County, NC reported 124 violent crimes per 100,000 in FBI UCR 2024

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Rutherford County, NC agencies reported 80 violent and 428 property offenses. That equals about 124 violent and 664 property crimes per 100,000 using a verified Census population join. Table 10 coverage is a voluntary subset of U.S. counties.

  • 2024 UCR year
  • 80 violent offenses
  • 124/100K violent rate

What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Rutherford County, NC

2021–2024 direction

The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher

Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 117.9 per 100,000 in 2021 to 124.1 in 2024 (+5.3%). The highest observed value was 201.7 in 2022 and the lowest 110.2 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.

Position in the state cohort

Rutherford County sits mid-pack among comparable North Carolina counties

At 124.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Rutherford County ranks 39 of 77 — above 38 of the 76 other North Carolina counties whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test and carries a matched Census denominator. That is +1.3% against the cohort median of 122.6. Counties that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.

On a large county row, county figures aggregate every participating agency inside the county. Participation is voluntary. Per-100,000 rates use a separately matched 2020 U.S. Census county population, never a Table 10 field; unmatched counties stay count-only. A large county line encloses very different communities.

Property Crime
428
Violent Crime
80
Data Year
2024

Crime Breakdown (2024) · property-led · large county

Category Count
Property Crime 428
Burglary 145
Larceny-Theft 236
Motor Vehicle Theft 47
Arson 6
Violent Crime 80
Murder 1
Rape 17
Robbery 1
Aggravated Assault 61

Reporting Agency

Rutherford County Sheriff's Office NIBRS-participating

Rutherford County's crime figures on this page originate from Rutherford County Sheriff's Office'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.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the crime rate in Rutherford County, NC?
In 2024, Rutherford County reported 80 violent crimes and 428 property crimes. The most common violent crime was aggravated assault, and the most common property crime was larceny-theft.
Is Rutherford County safe?
Rutherford County reported 508 total crimes in 2024. Property crime accounts for the majority of offenses. Compare with other counties in North Carolina on our state page for context.

Similar-Size Counties in North Carolina

A per-capita rate is easiest to read against places of similar scale, so these are the North Carolina counties closest to Rutherford County in population. Their populations run from 60,992 to 67,686, against 64,444 here. Or launch the side-by-side compare tool to benchmark two jurisdictions directly.

ZIP Codes in Rutherford County

Explore PlainCrime

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States (CIUS) Table 10.

FBI Table 10 supplies county offense counts but no resident population. Where this page shows a per-100,000 rate, the denominator is a separately matched 2020 U.S. Census Bureau county population; unmatched county rows remain count-only. Statewide comparisons draw on the state UCR program. Verify with FBI.gov UCR and Census.gov QuickFacts.

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 10 county crime · 2024 Rutherford County, NC figures cover participating agencies only.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.