Photo: Bz3rk · CC BY-SA 4.0More property crime is recorded per resident in Morehead City than in 87% of U.S. towns
The graded rate fell 28% from 2023 to 2025. Still, its letter for safety is C−, worked out from crimes Morehead City’s police reported over 2023 to 2025: #87 of 163 graded towns in North Carolina. Annual rates stand at 3.2 violent crimes and 26.4 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 5.0 and 27.9 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 Morehead City
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 North Carolina towns on Morehead City’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Beaufort (C). Brandywine Bay is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Neighbors ↓
Among North Carolina towns, closer to the middle
North Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Morehead City’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 47% of the 163 North Carolina towns we grade, against 17% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Morehead City has 8,845 jobs based in town for 10,434 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 Morehead 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. Its violent rate (3.2) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Morehead City property | Rest of North Carolina property | Morehead City violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 25.6 | 28.9 | 3.0 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 28.6 | 29.6 | 3.1 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 30.7 | 28.8 | 3.6 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 20.1 | 25.2 | 2.8 | 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 Morehead 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 | Morehead City | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.0 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 3.1 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.6 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.8 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Morehead City’s police reported 95 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
230 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.
28 violent and 202 property, as reported to the FBI by Morehead City’s police.
Six people died in crashes on Morehead City’s roads in 2019–2023
Morehead City had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six people died; 2 were pedestrians.
That is about what 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 Morehead City’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Morehead City’s own rate (12.2) 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.
Morehead City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morehead City | C− | 3.2 | 26.4 |
| Brandywine Bay | — | — | — |
| Beaufort | C | 3.1 | 14.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Brandywine Bay is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
North Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morehead City | C− | 3.2 | 26.4 |
| Winterville | B+ | 1.5 | 7.0 |
| Mount Airy | C− | 2.5 | 25.0 |
| Aberdeen | C− | 2.5 | 31.6 |
| Tarboro | D | 5.8 | 24.2 |
| Washington | D | 5.7 | 32.9 |
The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Morehead City’s population (10,434), 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 Morehead 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 Morehead City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,060 in 2025); our figure for Morehead City is 10,434 (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 Morehead City
Is Morehead City, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Morehead City reports more crime per resident than 83% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #87 of 163 in North Carolina. Its police reported 3.2 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 Morehead City?
3.2 violent and 26.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Carolina reports 5.0 and 27.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Morehead City safer than Beaufort?
Beaufort reports less crime per resident than Morehead City: Beaufort grades C for safety and Morehead City C−. Beaufort’s police reported 3.1 violent and 14.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Morehead City?
Morehead City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Morehead City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Morehead 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.