The Murder Capitals Of North Carolina For 2023


The cities with the most murder in North Carolina are Rockingham and Salisbury for 2023.

Do you live in one of the murder capitals of North Carolina?

We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.

So we wanted to get the facts straight and dug into the FBI crime data in order to identify the places with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita in North Carolina.

The result is the Murder Capitals of the Tar Heel State for 2023:

  1. Rockingham
  2. Salisbury
  3. Laurinburg
  4. Fayetteville
  5. Asheboro
  6. Elizabeth City
  7. Rocky Mount
  8. Greensboro
  9. Erwin
  10. New Bern

What city has the highest murder rate in North Carolina? The city with the highest murder rate in North Carolina is Rockingham with 130.6 murders per 100,000 people.

What is the city in North Carolina with highest number of murders? The city in North Carolina with the highest number of murders is Charlotte-Mecklenburg with 98 murders.

Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in North Carolina ranked. There were ‘only’ 76 cities in North Carolina where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 39 places had no murder.

For more reading on the Tar Heel State check out:

The 10 Murder Capitals Of North Carolina For 2023

Rockingham, NC

Source: Flickr User MikeKalasnik | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 8,424
Rank Last Year: 14
Murders: 11 (11th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 130.6 (Most)
More on Rockingham:  Data | Cost Of Living

Salisbury, NC

Source: Wikipedia User AlexiusHoratius | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 33,856
Rank Last Year: 11
Murders: 13 (9th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 38.4 (7th Most)
More on Salisbury:  Data | Cost Of Living

Laurinburg, NC

Source: Wikipedia User Gerry Dincher from Hope Mills, NC | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

2
/10

Population: 14,798
Rank Last Year: 2
Murders: 10 (13th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 67.6 (3rd Most)
More on Laurinburg:  Data | Cost Of Living

Fayetteville, NC

Source: Wikipedia User Hegemanc | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 212,047
Rank Last Year: 7
Murders: 47 (3rd Most)
Murders Per 100k: 22.2 (17th Most)
More on Fayetteville:  Data | Cost Of Living

Asheboro, NC

Source: Wikipedia User Upstateherd | CC BY-SA 4.0

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 26,082
Rank Last Year:
Murders: 8 (15th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 30.7 (9th Most)
More on Asheboro:  Data | Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Elizabeth City, NC

Source: Wikipedia User Ajsanjua at English Wikipedia | CC BY 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 17,948
Rank Last Year: 17
Murders: 7 (19th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 39.0 (6th Most)
More on Elizabeth City:  Data | Cost Of Living

Rocky Mount, NC

Source: Wikipedia User koly | CC BY-SA 4.0

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 53,305
Rank Last Year: 5
Murders: 12 (10th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 22.5 (16th Most)
More on Rocky Mount:  Data | Cost Of Living

Greensboro, NC

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 300,865
Rank Last Year: 3
Murders: 51 (2nd Most)
Murders Per 100k: 17.0 (29th Most)
More on Greensboro:  Data | Cost Of Living

Erwin, NC

Source: Wikipedia User Dincher | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,270
Rank Last Year: 98
Murders: 4 (29th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 75.9 (2nd Most)
More on Erwin:  Data | Cost Of Living

New Bern, NC

Source: Wikipedia User rjones0856 | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 29,985
Rank Last Year: 28
Murders: 7 (19th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 23.3 (13th Most)
More on New Bern:  Data | Cost Of Living

Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of North Carolina

While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we didn’t want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report which summarizes the number of murders that may happen in each city per year.

We only looked every single city in North Carolina for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 76 cities to rank.

Finally, we averaged the two scores into an index:

  • The raw number of murders in each city
  • The murders per person

We felt as if a small place with 2,500 people and two murders makes it a lot more dangerous than a city of 25,000 people with three murders. Any ties went to the larger city.

This article is an opinion based on facts. It is our tenth time ranking the most places with the most murders per capita in North Carolina and is updated for 2023.

Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In North Carolina For 2023

If you’re looking at the places in North Carolina with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.

For more North Carolina reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Places With The Most Murder In North Carolina For 2023

Rank City Murders Murders/100K
1 Rockingham, NC 11 130.58
2 Salisbury, NC 13 38.4
3 Laurinburg, NC 10 67.58
4 Fayetteville, NC 47 22.16
5 Asheboro, NC 8 30.67
6 Elizabeth City, NC 7 39.0
7 Rocky Mount, NC 12 22.51
8 Greensboro, NC 51 16.95
9 Erwin, NC 4 75.9
10 New Bern, NC 7 23.35
11 Henderson, NC 5 33.19
12 Lenoir, NC 5 27.96
13 Durham, NC 47 16.1
14 High Point, NC 19 16.6
15 Hickory, NC 8 19.23
16 Goldsboro, NC 7 20.38
17 Wadesboro, NC 3 57.8
18 Winston-Salem, NC 38 15.2
19 Monroe, NC 7 19.47
20 Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC 98 10.25
21 Wilson, NC 8 16.16
22 Williamston, NC 2 39.43
23 Gastonia, NC 11 14.06
24 Kinston, NC 4 20.33
25 Newton, NC 3 22.64
26 Wilmington, NC 14 11.04
27 Burlington, NC 8 14.27
28 Roanoke Rapids, NC 3 21.36
29 Zebulon, NC 2 29.57
30 Selma, NC 2 26.83
31 Conover, NC 2 23.25
32 Graham, NC 3 18.85
33 Albemarle, NC 3 18.3
34 Morehead City, NC 2 20.46
35 Garner, NC 4 12.16
36 Raleigh, NC 26 5.4
37 Kings Mountain, NC 2 17.92
38 Archdale, NC 2 17.28
39 Jacksonville, NC 6 7.88
40 Huntersville, NC 5 8.27
41 Asheville, NC 6 6.39
42 Whiteville, NC 1 19.12
43 Carrboro, NC 2 9.34
44 Cherryville, NC 1 16.18
45 Thomasville, NC 2 7.49
46 Boiling Spring Lakes, NC 1 16.03
47 Clayton, NC 2 7.2
48 Greenville, NC 4 4.17
49 Kannapolis, NC 3 5.66
50 Statesville, NC 2 7.04
51 Forest City, NC 1 14.07
52 Concord, NC 4 3.97
53 Hillsborough, NC 1 13.72
54 Fletcher, NC 1 11.66
55 Cary, NC 4 2.25
56 Aberdeen, NC 1 11.66
57 Wendell, NC 1 10.16
58 Waynesville, NC 1 9.41
59 Lincolnton, NC 1 8.59
60 Spring Lake, NC 1 8.31
61 Smithfield, NC 1 7.36
62 Reidsville, NC 1 7.17
63 Hendersonville, NC 1 6.97
64 Eden, NC 1 6.76
65 Morganton, NC 1 6.05
66 Mount Holly, NC 1 5.98
67 Mebane, NC 1 5.76
68 Lexington, NC 1 5.22
69 Havelock, NC 1 5.14
70 Lumberton, NC 1 4.97
71 Shelby, NC 1 4.97
72 Kernersville, NC 1 3.99
73 Mint Hill, NC 1 3.48
74 Cornelius, NC 1 3.18
75 Mooresville, NC 1 2.47
76 Chapel Hill, NC 1 1.55
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

3 thoughts on “The Murder Capitals Of North Carolina For 2023

  1. Monroe has more then 1 murder, just 2 of my friends got killed this year. there’s been at least 5 or 6 people killed

  2. Winston Salem reports a number of murders according to the news, yet I couldn’t find mention of their apparent problem.

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