Cape Carteret reports less crime per resident than four in five U.S. towns
A Safety Grade of A− follows from crimes Cape Carteret’s police reported over the years 2023 to 2025. What’s more, it has less violent crime than 77% of U.S. towns, and less property crime than 78%. Per 1,000 residents a year, 0.7 violent crime and 5.4 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 5.0 and 27.9 in the rest of North Carolina.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of NC” is every other North Carolina city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What’s behind Cape Carteret’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Cape Carteret | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.0 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.8 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.4 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Cape Carteret’s police reported 5 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.7 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Cape Carteret per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Cape Carteret property | Rest of North Carolina property | Cape Carteret violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6.6 | 29.6 | 0.0 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 5.7 | 28.8 | 1.8 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 3.9 | 25.2 | 0.4 | 4.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of North Carolina.
10 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
1 violent and 9 property, as reported to the FBI by Cape Carteret’s police.
No one died in a crash on Cape Carteret’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for North Carolina towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Cape Carteret’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Cape Carteret’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Cape Carteret and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Carteret | A− | 0.7 | 5.4 |
| Cedar Point | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Cedar Point has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
North Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Carteret | A− | 0.7 | 5.4 |
| Taylorsville | A− | 0.1 | 8.8 |
| Madison | C | 2.0 | 20.1 |
| Murfreesboro | C− | 4.6 | 21.6 |
| Jonesville | D | 2.4 | 44.5 |
| Fairmont | D− | 10.4 | 59.3 |
The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Cape Carteret’s population (2,273), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Cape Carteret. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Cape Carteret’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,303 in 2025); our figure for Cape Carteret is 2,273 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Cape Carteret
Is Cape Carteret, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Cape Carteret reports less crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade. Its police reported 0.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Cape Carteret?
0.7 violent and 5.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Carolina reports 5.0 and 27.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Cape Carteret?
Cape Carteret’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Cape Carteret”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Cape Carteret.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.