Clayton Graded School and Clayton Grammar School-Municipal Auditorium · Photo: LikeGrantTookRichmond · CC BY-SA 3.0Crime in Clayton sits close to the middle of U.S. towns
Clayton grades B− for safety overall (#32 of 163 graded towns in North Carolina): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Per resident, the graded crimes were down 30% from 2023 to 2025. What’s more, in a usual year, 1.4 violent crimes and 13.0 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of North Carolina, 5.1 and 28.0.
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 stands out about safety in Clayton
Among North Carolina towns, higher
North Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Clayton’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 80% of the 163 North Carolina towns we grade, against 50% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Clayton’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Clayton’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (13.0) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Clayton property | Rest of North Carolina property | Clayton violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.4 | 29.0 | 1.1 | 5.8 |
| 2023 | 15.5 | 29.7 | 1.3 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 12.8 | 28.9 | 1.7 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 10.7 | 25.3 | 1.1 | 4.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of North Carolina.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Clayton | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.1 | 5.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.3 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.7 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.1 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Clayton’s police reported 132 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.4 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.1 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Clayton 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 about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
393 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.
38 violent and 355 property, as reported to the FBI by Clayton’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Clayton’s roads in 2019–2023
Clayton had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is fewer than is typical for North Carolina towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (7.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Clayton’s size would see about 12 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Clayton’s own rate (3.4) 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.
Clayton and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clayton | B− | 1.4 | 13.0 |
| Archer Lodge | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Archer Lodge has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
North Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clayton | B− | 1.4 | 13.0 |
| Morrisville | C | 1.0 | 24.6 |
| New Bern | C | 3.4 | 17.8 |
| Matthews | C− | 1.7 | 26.3 |
| Statesville | D | 7.5 | 36.0 |
| Goldsboro | D− | 12.3 | 53.5 |
The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Clayton’s population (32,633), 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 Clayton. 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 Clayton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (33,135 in 2025); our figure for Clayton is 32,633 (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 Clayton
Is Clayton, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Clayton reports less crime per resident than 50% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #32 of 163 in North Carolina. Its police reported 1.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.1 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Clayton?
1.4 violent and 13.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Carolina reports 5.1 and 28.0; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Clayton in 2025?
Clayton’s police reported 2 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 6.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Clayton?
Clayton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Clayton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Clayton.
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.