Borden Manufacturing Company · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainGoldsboro has more crime per resident than almost every U.S. town
It has more violent crime than 99% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 99%. Still, the graded rate fell 35% from 2023 to 2025. Counting crimes Goldsboro’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades D− for safety: #155 of 163 graded towns in North Carolina. Out of every 1,000 residents, 12.3 violent crimes and 53.5 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 5.0 and 27.7 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 Goldsboro
A job center
Goldsboro has 24,024 jobs based in town for 35,012 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 Goldsboro’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 | Goldsboro property | Rest of North Carolina property | Goldsboro violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 51.1 | 28.7 | 11.3 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 63.1 | 29.4 | 15.1 | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 58.6 | 28.7 | 10.8 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 39.4 | 25.1 | 11.1 | 4.3 |
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 | Goldsboro | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 11.3 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 15.1 | 5.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 10.8 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 11.1 | 4.3 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Goldsboro’s police reported 1,242 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 12.3 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 Goldsboro 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 11 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
1,750 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.
384 violent and 1,366 property, as reported to the FBI by Goldsboro’s police.
18 people died in crashes on Goldsboro’s roads in 2019–2023
Goldsboro had 18 fatal crashes in five years, in which 18 people died; 5 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is 10.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for North Carolina towns of 25,000–100,000 people (7.9, 33 towns).
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.
Goldsboro and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Elroy and New Hope are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
North Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goldsboro | D− | 12.3 | 53.5 |
| Leland | B+ | 1.1 | 7.4 |
| Cornelius | B | 1.2 | 9.5 |
| New Bern | C | 3.4 | 17.8 |
| Matthews | C− | 1.7 | 26.3 |
| Salisbury | D− | 8.4 | 38.8 |
The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Goldsboro’s population (35,012), 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 Goldsboro. 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 Goldsboro’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (34,664 in 2025); our figure for Goldsboro is 35,012 (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 Goldsboro
Is Goldsboro, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Goldsboro reports more crime per resident than 99% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #155 of 163 in North Carolina. Its police reported 12.3 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 Goldsboro?
12.3 violent and 53.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Carolina reports 5.0 and 27.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Goldsboro in 2025?
Goldsboro’s police reported 8 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 23.1 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Goldsboro?
Goldsboro’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Goldsboro”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Goldsboro.
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.