North Carolina Crime Trends

North Carolina's comparable FBI window (2014–2024, 11 years) splits: one major offense rate rose while the other fell — the lead series is the larger |endpoint %| move.

Split-window verdict

The two tracked crime rates moved in different directions

North Carolina's violent crime rate rose 19.7% from 2014 to 2024; its property crime rate fell 29.6%. A single combined label would hide that split, so the evidence below keeps the two series separate.

What stands out in North Carolina

Full-window endpoints

The two tracked crime rates moved in different directions

Violent crime moved from 304.6 to 364.6 per 100,000 (+19.7%). Property crime moved from 2741.6 to 1929.5 (-29.6%). These are endpoint comparisons, not proof that every intervening year followed the same direction.

Recent direction check

The recent direction reverses the full-window direction

From 2021 to 2024, the violent-crime rate fell 11.9%, compared with +19.7% across the full 2014-2024 window. That difference is why the latest few observations should be read separately from the decade-scale endpoints.

Peak and trough

The latest violent-crime rate sits inside the historical range

The highest observed violent-crime rate was 423.3 in 2020; the lowest was 302.2 in 2015. The latest value lies 52% of the way from that low to that peak, which shows whether the endpoint is close to an extreme or near the middle of the observed range.

Year-to-year movement

The sharpest one-year move was an increase

The largest annual change ran from 2019 to 2020: +17.8%. Across the full sequence, 3 year-to-year steps rose by more than 1% and 4 fell by more than 1%. A single sharp step can reflect participation or reporting changes as well as a real change in recorded offenses.

Rate denominator

The population denominator grew across the series

The reported population changed from 9,943,964 to 11,046,024 (+11.1%). Rates account for that denominator change; raw offense counts do not. This is one reason a count and a per-100,000 rate can move by different percentages over the same years.

Latest national comparison

North Carolina finished above the aggregated US violent-crime rate

For 2024, the state rate was 364.6 per 100,000 versus 352.0 across the state records in this dataset, a gap of 3.6% above. This is a state-level benchmark, not a neighborhood-safety conclusion.

Property Crime Rate (2024) · lead
1929.5/100K
Property Crime Change · lead
-29.6%
2014–2024

North Carolina property inflection desk (2015)

North Carolina's property rate fell 11.2% (-308.3 per 100K) from 2014 to 2015 (2741.6 → 2433.3) — the sharpest comparable year-to-year step in this window. The largest move the other way was jumped 3.4% from 2018 to 2019 (2138.0 → 2210.6).

North Carolina's property gap vs the US aggregate moved from 8.7% above in 2014 to 12.8% above in 2024 (+4.0 pp).

North Carolina Property Crime Rate Over Time (lead series)

2851 1259 20142017202020232024
North Carolina property rate US property average

North Carolina Violent Crime Rate Over Time

435 268 20142017202020232024
North Carolina violent rate US violent average

Year-by-Year Crime Data (property-led)

Year Coverage Population Property Rate YoY Violent Rate
2024 Comparable 11,046,024 213,138 1929.5 ↓ 5.6% 40,271 364.6
2023 Comparable 10,835,491 221,449 2043.7 ↑ 0.2% 41,870 386.4
2022 Comparable 10,698,973 218,322 2040.6 ↓ 1.0% 42,547 397.7
2021 Comparable 10,551,162 217,575 2062.1 ↓ 5.5% 43,650 413.7
2020 Comparable 10,600,823 231,270 2181.6 ↓ 1.3% 44,871 423.3
2019 Comparable 10,488,084 231,848 2210.6 ↑ 3.4% 37,696 359.4
2018 Comparable 10,383,620 221,998 2138 ↓ 6.4% 33,060 318.4
2017 Comparable 10,273,419 234,769 2285.2 ↓ 5.4% 32,918 320.4
2016 Comparable 10,146,788 245,019 2414.7 ↓ 0.8% 32,644 321.7
2015 Comparable 10,042,802 244,376 2433.3 ↓ 11.2% 30,348 302.2
2014 Comparable 9,943,964 272,619 2741.6 - 30,285 304.6

More in North Carolina: overview, safest cities, most dangerous, compare. Methodology — FBI UCR / Crime Data Explorer rates per 100,000 for North Carolina (2014–2024); Census population where FBI denominators are missing.