Photo: MattShaw9365 · CC BY-SA 3.0Wilson reports more crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Wilson’s police in 2023–2025, it grades D for safety: #104 of 163 graded towns in 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 Wilson
Among North Carolina towns, closer to the middle
North Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Wilson’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 36% of the 163 North Carolina towns we grade, against 12% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Wilson has 29,831 jobs based in town for 49,572 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 Wilson’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Wilson property | Rest of North Carolina property | Wilson violent | Rest of North Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 24.6 | 28.9 | 5.2 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 26.2 | 29.7 | 5.3 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 24.0 | 28.9 | 5.8 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 21.5 | 25.3 | 4.8 | 4.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 22 property crimes reported
And about 5 violent crimes, 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Wilson’s police reported 759 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of North Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Wilson | Rest of North Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5.8 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
1,277 crimes reported in 2025
232 violent and 1,045 property, as reported to the FBI by Wilson’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
43 people died in crashes on Wilson’s roads in 2019–2023
Wilson had 37 fatal crashes in five years, in which 43 people died; 9 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 17.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for North Carolina towns of 25,000–100,000 people (7.9, 33 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.
Wilson and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilson | D | 5.3 | 23.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
North Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilson | D | 5.3 | 23.9 |
| Fuquay-Varina | A− | 0.7 | 5.5 |
| Holly Springs | B+ | 1.0 | 8.6 |
| Mooresville | C | 2.2 | 20.7 |
| Hickory | D | 4.9 | 29.1 |
| Rocky Mount | D− | 7.7 | 35.4 |
The five graded North Carolina towns closest to Wilson’s population (49,572), by grade.
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 Wilson. 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 Wilson’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (48,609 in 2025); our figure for Wilson is 49,572 (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 Wilson
Is Wilson, NC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wilson reports more crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #104 of 163 in North Carolina. Its police reported 5.3 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 Wilson?
5.3 violent and 23.9 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 crime going up or down in Wilson?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Wilson in 2025?
Wilson’s police reported 9 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 18.5 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Who polices Wilson?
Wilson’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wilson”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Wilson.
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.