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

Wayne County, NC

At 117,333 residents, Wayne 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

1,108
Property offenses
280
Violent offenses
1,388
Total · 2024

Wayne County, NC reported 239 violent crimes per 100,000 in FBI UCR 2024

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Wayne County, NC agencies reported 280 violent and 1,108 property offenses. That equals about 239 violent and 944 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
  • 280 violent offenses
  • 239/100K violent rate

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

2020–2024 direction

The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher

Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 150.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 238.6 in 2024 (+59.1%). The highest observed value was 238.6 in 2024 and the lowest 150.0 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.

Position in the state cohort

Wayne County reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable North Carolina counties

At 238.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Wayne County ranks 14 of 77 — above 63 of the 76 other North Carolina counties whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test and carries a matched Census denominator. That is +96.4% against the cohort median of 121.5. 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
1,108
Violent Crime
280
Data Year
2024

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

Category Count
Property Crime 1,108
Burglary 314
Larceny-Theft 665
Motor Vehicle Theft 129
Arson 3
Violent Crime 280
Murder 3
Rape 8
Robbery 16
Aggravated Assault 253

Reporting Agency

Wayne County Sheriff's Office NIBRS-participating

Wayne County's crime figures on this page originate from Wayne 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 Wayne County, NC?
In 2024, Wayne County reported 280 violent crimes and 1,108 property crimes. The most common violent crime was aggravated assault, and the most common property crime was larceny-theft.
Is Wayne County safe?
Wayne County reported 1,388 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 Wayne County in population. Their populations run from 99,727 to 133,568, against 117,333 here. Or launch the side-by-side compare tool to benchmark two jurisdictions directly.

ZIP Codes in Wayne 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 Wayne 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.