Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Forest City records more crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns
It has more violent crime than 88% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 99%. On top of that, the grade is D−, built on crimes Forest City’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #143 of 163 graded towns in North Carolina. The graded rate fell 29% from 2023 to 2025. Violence and property crime split as 5.0 violent crimes and 55.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 5.0 and 27.8 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 stands out about safety in Forest City
A job center
Forest City has 5,761 jobs based in town for 7,410 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Forest City’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 higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Forest City property | Rest of North Carolina property | Forest City violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 67.9 | 28.8 | 6.8 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 65.2 | 29.6 | 6.7 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 52.9 | 28.8 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 48.1 | 25.2 | 3.1 | 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.
Crime in Forest City 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 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Forest City | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.8 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.7 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.1 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Forest City’s police reported 111 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
379 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.
23 violent and 356 property, as reported to the FBI by Forest City’s police.
Six people died in crashes on Forest City’s roads in 2019–2023
Forest City had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is more than is typical for North Carolina towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (7.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Forest City’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Forest City’s own rate (16.3) 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.
Forest City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest City | D− | 5.0 | 55.4 |
| Spindale | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Spindale has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
North Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest City | D− | 5.0 | 55.4 |
| King | B− | 0.7 | 16.3 |
| Boiling Spring Lakes | B− | 2.1 | 12.0 |
| Carolina Beach | C− | 3.5 | 18.1 |
| Marion | D | 2.0 | 34.2 |
| Selma | D | 7.5 | 24.6 |
The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Forest City’s population (7,410), 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 Forest City. 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 Forest City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (7,405 in 2025); our figure for Forest City is 7,410 (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 Forest City
Is Forest City, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Forest City reports more crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #143 of 163 in North Carolina. Its police reported 5.0 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 Forest City?
5.0 violent and 55.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Carolina reports 5.0 and 27.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Forest City?
Forest City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Forest City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Forest City.
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.