Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Less violent crime is recorded per resident in Southern Shores than in 97% of U.S. towns
The rate the grade counts dropped 39% from 2023 to 2025. Southern Shores grades B+ for safety overall (#10 of 163 graded towns in North Carolina): less crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. For every 1,000 residents, 0.1 violent crime and 11.0 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of North Carolina, the figures are 5.0 and 27.9.
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 Southern Shores
Southern Shores reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 North Carolina towns on Southern Shores’ borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Kitty Hawk (C+). Neighbors ↓
Among North Carolina towns, higher
North Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Southern Shores’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 94% of the 163 North Carolina towns we grade, against 70% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Southern Shores’ 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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Southern Shores property | Rest of North Carolina property | Southern Shores violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.1 | 28.9 | 0.0 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 13.6 | 29.6 | 0.0 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 11.1 | 28.8 | 0.3 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 8.3 | 25.2 | 0.0 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Southern Shores | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.0 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.0 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.3 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Southern Shores’ police reported 1 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Southern Shores 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 no violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
26 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. 2025 figures come from FBI Crime Data Explorer, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
0 violent and 26 property, as reported to the FBI by Southern Shores’ police.
One person died in crashes on Southern Shores’s roads in 2019–2023
Southern Shores had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a pedestrian.
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 Southern Shores’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Southern Shores’s own rate (6.4) 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.
Southern Shores and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Shores | B+ | 0.1 | 11.0 |
| Kitty Hawk | C+ | 2.1 | 16.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
North Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Shores | B+ | 0.1 | 11.0 |
| Granite Quarry | B− | 1.6 | 10.7 |
| Yadkinville | C | 2.5 | 18.1 |
| Troy | C | 3.0 | 18.1 |
| Nags Head | D | 3.1 | 33.4 |
| Plymouth | D− | 13.3 | 30.2 |
The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Southern Shores’ population (3,110), 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 Southern Shores. 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 Southern Shores’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (3,133 in 2025); our figure for Southern Shores is 3,110 (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 Southern Shores
Is Southern Shores, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Southern Shores reports less crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #10 of 163 in North Carolina. Its police reported 0.1 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 Southern Shores?
0.1 violent and 11.0 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 Southern Shores safer than Kitty Hawk?
Kitty Hawk reports more crime per resident than Southern Shores: Kitty Hawk grades C+ for safety and Southern Shores B+. Kitty Hawk’s police reported 2.1 violent and 16.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Southern Shores?
Southern Shores’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Southern Shores Police Department”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Southern Shores.
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.