Photo: Ron Reiring · CC BY 2.0Crime reported in Morganton, NC
Morganton has no FBI crime figures of its own for 2023–2025, so there is nothing to grade it on.
For every 1,000 residents, about 33 property crimes reported
And about 4 violent crimes, in 2022. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2022
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2022
Crimes reported to police in 2022 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
The years Morganton’s police reported
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents, against the rest of North Carolina. A year the department didn’t report in full is a gap, not a zero.
Show as a table
| Year | Morganton | Rest of North Carolina | Morganton | Rest of North Carolina |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 33.3 | 28.9 | 4.1 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | not reported | 29.6 | not reported | 5.5 |
| 2024 | not reported | 28.8 | not reported | 5.3 |
| 2025 | not reported | 25.2 | not reported | 4.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
657 crimes reported in 2022
72 violent and 585 property, as reported to the FBI by Morganton’s police.
2022 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
The nearest North Carolina towns with a Safety Grade
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Straight-line distance from the center of Morganton. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Morganton.
10 people died in crashes on Morganton’s roads in 2019–2023
Morganton had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which 10 people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is 11.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for North Carolina towns of 5,000–25,000 people (7.4, 123 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.
Morganton and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salem | — | — | — |
| Glen Alpine | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Salem is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own. Glen Alpine has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
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 Morganton. 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 Morganton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (17,568 in 2022); our figure for Morganton is 17,849 (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 Morganton
Is Morganton, NC safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Morganton. Morganton has no FBI crime figures of its own for 2023–2025, so there is nothing to grade it on. The nearest North Carolina towns with a grade are Valdese (C, 7 mi), Hudson (B, 14 mi), Lenoir (C−, 15 mi).
Who polices Morganton?
Morganton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Morganton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Morganton.
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, 2022, 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.