Photo: Doug Anderson · CC BY 2.0Oak Island has no Safety Grade
There are no FBI figures for Oak Island by itself for 2023–2025, so the grade has nothing to work from. Inside a 10-mile circle, only Boiling Spring Lakes carries a grade. Out to 25 miles, the count of graded towns reaches 5.
The nearest North Carolina towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boiling Spring Lakes | B− | 7 mi | 2.1 | 12.0 |
| Shallotte | D | 13 mi | 2.9 | 44.4 |
| Carolina Beach | C− | 16 mi | 3.5 | 18.1 |
| Leland | B+ | 18 mi | 1.1 | 7.4 |
| Wilmington | D | 24 mi | 4.6 | 33.0 |
| Wrightsville Beach | D | 28 mi | 3.2 | 31.8 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Oak Island. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Oak Island.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Two people died in crashes on Oak Island’s roads in 2019–2023
Oak Island had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
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 Oak Island’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Oak Island’s own rate (4.4) 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.
Oak Island and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boiling Spring Lakes | B− | 2.1 | 12.0 |
| St. James | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. St. James has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
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.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- 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 Oak Island
Is Oak Island, NC safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Oak Island. Oak Island 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 Boiling Spring Lakes (B−, 7 mi), Shallotte (D, 13 mi), Carolina Beach (C−, 16 mi).
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Oak Island.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 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.