Most Dangerous Cities in North Carolina (2025)
The FBI-reporting cities in North Carolina with the lowest Crime Index scores for 2025. Scores run 0–100 (higher = safer) and are built from FBI Crime Data Explorer reports.
Showing the 10 most dangerous of 21 cities
Not the same cities shown on the safest cities in North Carolina list. See the full ranked list →
- 1AshevilleE5,140per 100k4.2homicide
- 2GastoniaE3,778per 100k5.8homicide
- 3Rocky MountE4,053per 100k27.5homicide
- 4Winston SalemE3,765per 100k10.5homicide
- 5DurhamD4,105per 100k10.7homicide
- 6BurlingtonD3,297per 100k4.8homicide
- 7FayettevilleD3,369per 100k16.3homicide
- 8GreensboroD2,839per 100k8.4homicide
- 9WilmingtonD3,317per 100k7.0homicide
- 10High PointD2,488per 100k4.2homicide
No area has zero risk
A high Crime Index score means lower reported crime relative to other US cities — it is not a guarantee of safety. Reported crime is not the same as actual crime. Research on the gap between crime that occurs and crime that gets reported to police — often called the "dark figure" of crime — estimates that roughly 40% of violent crime and about a third of property crime go unreported each year. Every index built on official statistics, including this one, necessarily undercounts real crime. That gap is exactly why homicide — the offense with the smallest dark figure — anchors the calculation instead of a more commonly reported but less reliable category like theft.
Scores on this page reflect FBI-reported data for 2025. See the full methodology →