Sunnyside · Photo: Nicholas Oren Rawlings · CC BY-SA 3.0Wendell sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Overall, Wendell grades B for safety (#20 of 163 graded towns in North Carolina): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Wendell
Wendell reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 1 North Carolina towns on Wendell’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Zebulon (C−). Neighbors ↓
Among North Carolina towns, higher
North Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Wendell’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 88% of the 163 North Carolina towns we grade, against 59% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Wendell’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Wendell’s police reported 54 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.1 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.1 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Wendell | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.7 | 5.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.0 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 10 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
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
| Year | Wendell property | Rest of North Carolina property | Wendell violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.9 | 28.9 | 1.7 | 5.8 |
| 2023 | 11.0 | 29.7 | 1.0 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 10.7 | 28.9 | 1.4 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 10.0 | 25.3 | 0.9 | 4.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
210 crimes reported in 2025
18 violent and 192 property, as reported to the FBI by Wendell’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
One person died in crashes on Wendell’s roads in 2019–2023
Wendell had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is fewer than 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 Wendell’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Wendell’s own rate (1.5) 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.
Wendell and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 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 Wendell. 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 Wendell’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (19,206 in 2025); our figure for Wendell is 19,687 (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 Wendell
Is Wendell, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wendell reports less crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #20 of 163 in North Carolina. Its police reported 1.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.1 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Wendell?
1.1 violent and 10.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Carolina reports 5.1 and 27.9; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Wendell?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Wendell safer than Zebulon?
Zebulon reports more crime per resident than Wendell: Zebulon grades C− for safety and Wendell B. Zebulon’s police reported 3.6 violent and 25.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Wendell?
Wendell’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wendell”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Wendell.
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, 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.