Kitty Hawk Life-Saving Station · Photo: Jasonspsyche · CC BY-SA 3.0Kitty Hawk reports more crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Kitty Hawk’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C+ for safety: #46 of 163 graded towns in 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 Kitty Hawk
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 North Carolina towns on Kitty Hawk’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Southern Shores (B+). Kill Devil Hills reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Neighbors ↓
Among North Carolina towns, closer to the middle
North Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Kitty Hawk’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 72% of the 163 North Carolina towns we grade, against 36% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Kitty Hawk has 2,422 jobs based in town for 3,670 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Kitty Hawk’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. Its violent rate (2.1) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns. Its property rate (16.8) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Kitty Hawk’s police reported 23 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Kitty Hawk | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.9 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.4 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.8 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 21 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
Reported crime is steady
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Kitty Hawk property | Rest of North Carolina property | Kitty Hawk violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 12.8 | 29.6 | 2.9 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 16.4 | 28.8 | 2.4 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 21.2 | 25.2 | 0.8 | 4.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
81 crimes reported in 2025
3 violent and 78 property, as reported to the FBI by Kitty Hawk’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total. 2025 figures come from FBI Crime Data Explorer, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
Five people died in crashes on Kitty Hawk’s roads in 2019–2023
Kitty Hawk had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is more than 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 Kitty Hawk’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Kitty Hawk’s own rate (26.9) 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.
Kitty Hawk and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitty Hawk | C+ | 2.1 | 16.8 |
| Southern Shores | B+ | 0.1 | 11.0 |
| Kill Devil Hills | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Kill Devil Hills reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025.
North Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitty Hawk | C+ | 2.1 | 16.8 |
| Hudson | B | 0.5 | 13.3 |
| Rutherfordton | C− | 2.4 | 32.2 |
| Wallace | D | 4.1 | 39.0 |
| Wilkesboro | D | 3.4 | 44.9 |
| Louisburg | D− | 5.6 | 52.8 |
The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Kitty Hawk’s population (3,670), by grade.
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 Kitty Hawk. 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 Kitty Hawk’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (3,687 in 2025); our figure for Kitty Hawk is 3,670 (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 Kitty Hawk
Is Kitty Hawk, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Kitty Hawk reports more crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #46 of 163 in North Carolina. Its police reported 2.1 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 Kitty Hawk?
2.1 violent and 16.8 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.
Is crime going up or down in Kitty Hawk?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Kitty Hawk safer than Southern Shores?
Southern Shores reports less crime per resident than Kitty Hawk: Southern Shores grades B+ for safety and Kitty Hawk C+. Southern Shores’s police reported 0.1 violent and 11.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Kitty Hawk?
Kitty Hawk’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Kitty Hawk Police Department”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Kitty Hawk.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.