Photo: NCDOTcommunications · CC BY 2.0Wilmington records more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns
Violent crime here is higher than in 86% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 93%. A Safety Grade of D follows from crimes Wilmington’s police reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #113 of 163 graded towns in North Carolina, and #223 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000. The rate the grade counts dropped 17% from 2023 to 2025. Out of every 1,000 residents, 4.6 violent crimes and 33.0 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 5.1 and 27.8 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 Wilmington
Among North Carolina towns, closer to the middle
North Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Wilmington’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 31% of the 163 North Carolina towns we grade, against 9% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Homicides: above U.S. cities overall
Wilmington’s police reported 9 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 6.9 per 100,000 residents a year, below the rest of North Carolina (9.0) and above all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: about the same as the rest of North Carolina
84.1 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (103 reported in 2025), about the same as the rest of North Carolina (79.1) and about the same as all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Wilmington reports less crime per resident than 31% (#223). Places like it ↓
A college town
Wilmington is home to the University of North Carolina Wilmington, with 13,624 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 12% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Wilmington has 84,688 jobs based in town for 126,809 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 Wilmington’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Wilmington property | Rest of North Carolina property | Wilmington violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 28.7 | 28.9 | 5.3 | 5.8 |
| 2023 | 35.1 | 29.5 | 4.9 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 35.1 | 28.7 | 4.8 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 28.9 | 25.1 | 4.0 | 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.
Crime in Wilmington 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Homicides and robberies
Show as a table
| Year | Wilmington | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.1 | 10.5 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 8.2 | 10.0 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 5.6 | 9.2 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 7.0 | 7.7 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Wilmington | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 93.2 | 92.7 | 95.5 |
| 2023 | 99.4 | 86.3 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 72.7 | 84.8 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 80.6 | 66.5 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
Wilmington’s police reported 9 homicides, 103 robberies and 516 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of North Carolina and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
4,213 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.
516 violent and 3,697 property, as reported to the FBI by Wilmington’s police.
62 people died in crashes on Wilmington’s roads in 2019–2023
Wilmington had 60 fatal crashes in five years, in which 62 people died; 20 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 10.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for North Carolina towns of 100,000+ people (8.8, 10 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.
Wilmington and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilmington | D | 4.6 | 33.0 |
| Silver Lake | — | — | — |
| Wrightsboro | — | — | — |
| Kings Grant | — | — | — |
| Ogden | — | — | — |
| Murraysville | — | — | — |
| Myrtle Grove | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Silver Lake, Wrightsboro, Kings Grant, Ogden, Murraysville and Myrtle Grove are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
North Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilmington | D | 4.6 | 33.0 |
| Cary | B | 0.8 | 11.7 |
| Concord | B | 1.3 | 10.0 |
| High Point | D | 4.7 | 23.1 |
| Greenville | D | 4.8 | 28.1 |
| Asheville | D− | 8.0 | 42.6 |
The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Wilmington’s population (126,809), 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 Wilmington. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Wilmington’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (127,752 in 2025); our figure for Wilmington is 126,809 (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 Wilmington
Is Wilmington, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wilmington reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #113 of 163 in North Carolina. Its police reported 4.6 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 Wilmington?
4.6 violent and 33.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Carolina reports 5.1 and 27.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Wilmington in 2025?
Wilmington’s police reported 9 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 7.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Wilmington?
Wilmington’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wilmington”. 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 Wilmington.
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.