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Pine HallPine Hall · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0
C
Safety in Madison · FBI data, 2023–2025

Madison reports more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns

On crimes reported to the FBI by Madison’s police in 2023–2025, it grades C for safety.

Violent crime
2.0
per 1,000 a year · Well below rest of NC (5.0)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 3.6
Property crime
20.1
per 1,000 a year · Below rest of NC (27.9)
U.S. (FBI national estimate) 17.6
Crimes reported
144
13 violent · 131 property
2023–2025
Trend
→ Steady
2023 to 2025
within ordinary swings

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 · In brief

What stands out about safety in Madison

Madison reports less crime than every graded town next door

Of the 1 North Carolina towns on Madison’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Mayodan (D−). Neighbors ↓

A job center

Madison has 1,867 jobs based in town for 2,190 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.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Madison’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 (2.0) 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.

Where Madison sits
C+ Violent 2.0C− Property 20.1
All U.S. towns we grade (7,426)Less crime than 31%
More reported crimeLess reported crime
Places of 1,000–5,000 people (2,448)Less crime than 21%
A fairly firm grade. Built on 144 reported crimes over three years. Ordinary swings could put Madison anywhere from C− to C+.

How TownRatings grades safety →

Violent crime

Violent crime, by year and by type

Madison’s police reported 13 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.

1,000 neighbors · one year

For every 1,000 residents, about 19 property crimes reported

And about 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.

Property crime (18.7)Violent crime (1.8)Everyone else

Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Madison1.8
Rest of NC4.4
U.S. (FBI)3.3

Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025

Madison18.7
Rest of NC25.2
U.S. (FBI)15.5

Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.

Trend

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, 2022–2025, against the rest of North Carolina.

Show as a table
YearMadison propertyRest of North Carolina propertyMadison violentRest of North Carolina violent
202231.228.92.85.7
202321.829.63.75.5
202419.928.80.55.3
202518.725.21.84.4

Crimes per 1,000 residents

What gets reported

45 crimes reported in 2025

4 violent and 41 property, as reported to the FBI by Madison’s police.

2025 offenses reported

Larceny / theft28
Burglary10
Vehicle theft3
Aggravated assault4
Robbery0
Rape0
Homicide0
Arson0
4
violent crimes
41
property crimes

Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.

On the roads

No one died in a crash on Madison’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 Madison’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Madison’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.

0
people died in crashes, 2019–2023
0
pedestrians among them
0
cyclists among them
0.0
per 100,000 a year · North Carolina towns of 2,500–5,000: 7.4

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.

Next door

Madison and its neighbors

How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.

A rangeB rangeC rangeD rangeNot graded
TownGradeViolentProperty
MadisonC2.020.1
MayodanD−2.869.0

Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.

North Carolina towns of a similar size

TownGradeViolentProperty
MadisonC2.020.1
Cape CarteretA−0.75.4
TaylorsvilleA−0.18.8
MurfreesboroC−4.621.6
St. PaulsD−4.864.6
FairmontD−10.459.3

The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Madison’s population (2,190), by grade.

How to read these numbers

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 Madison. 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 Madison’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
  • Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,187 in 2025); our figure for Madison is 2,190 (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 Madison

Is Madison, NC safe?

On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Madison reports more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade. Its police reported 2.0 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 Madison?

2.0 violent and 20.1 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 Madison?

Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.

Is Madison safer than Mayodan?

Mayodan reports more crime per resident than Madison: Mayodan grades D− for safety and Madison C. Mayodan’s police reported 2.8 violent and 69.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.

Who polices Madison?

Madison’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Madison”. Its figures are the ones on this page.

Heads-up board

Neighbors looking out for each other in Madison.

Town Square →
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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.