Morehead City is a town of 14,700 in Carteret County, about 30 miles southeast of downtown New Bern · Updated November 2026
How common is property crime in Morehead City?
Morehead City earns an A- for property crime, safer than the neighborhoods where 54% of Americans live. Theft makes up 66% of it. Burglary, the crime most likely to reach into a home, grades A-, and vehicle theft grades A+.
A-
Property crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 844 of 1,000About as much property crime as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
54% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more property crime than Morehead City as a whole, and 46% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a property crime safety score of 823, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Morehead City scores 844.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more property crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its property crime with the homes, parked cars and people there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Morehead City, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Morehead City, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out about property crime in Morehead City
Car thefts are less common than the crime level suggests. Property crime in Morehead City runs 31% above the US rate, but car thefts run at less than half that rate: 0.84 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
Burglary stands out among cities graded A for property crime. For the typical resident of a US city graded A for property crime, the figure is 1.2 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; Morehead City has 2.6.
Where property crime is lowest and highest in Morehead City
Every part of Morehead City where people live grades A or B for property crime on the national scale. Property crime grades across Morehead City run from A to A-.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the property crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Is property crime going up in Morehead City?
Reported property crime in Morehead City has fallen 34% since 2019. Burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts went from about 47 to 31 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 18). Property crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Property crime, change since 2019
Morehead CityUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Morehead City. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Property, Morehead City
Property, US
2016
-11%
+15%
2017
+6%
+12%
2018
-12%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-21%
-8%
2021
-42%
-10%
2022
-46%
-6%
2023
-38%
-7%
2024
-34%
-15%
Property crime rates and types in Morehead City
CrimeGrade™ estimates Morehead City has about 31 reported property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 31% more than the US as a whole and 19% more than North Carolina.
All property crime
Burglary
Vehicle theft
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Property crime here includes vandalism, which the FBI's property crime rate leaves out.
Theft is the most common property crime in Morehead City, about 66% of the total, followed by vandalism and burglary.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a property crime with what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for vehicle theft, people and parking for theft, homes and businesses for vandalism. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when property crime happens in Morehead City
Morehead City has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Morehead City, 54% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (54%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (56%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (31%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
Property crime in Morehead City and nearby cities
Morehead City has the most property crime of its 5 nearest cities.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Morehead City. Beside each property crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with cities of similar size and density, Morehead City has more property crime than 84% of them.
Shops, parking lots and walkability in Morehead City
Among the traits that tend to go with property crime, two set Morehead City apart: it has 30.7 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 5.3 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.30.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 99% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.5.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 98% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft. 74% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (20 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 60% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more car theft.1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 90% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Morehead City: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft.67 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 84% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What property crime costs Morehead City
Property crime costs Morehead City about $2.8 million a year, or $194 per resident and about $425 per household: the value of what is stolen or damaged, plus the police, courts and prisons that respond.
Cost of property crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering add little to the cost of property crime, so this is close to its full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Burglary
$350,000
$24
Theft
$1.6 million
$106
Vehicle theft
$190,000
$13
Arson
$24,000
$2
Vandalism
$730,000
$50
Total
$2.8 million
$194
How CrimeGrade™ works
The property crime CrimeGrade™ covers burglary, theft, car theft, arson and vandalism, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each property crime against what it affects: homes for burglary and arson, parked cars for car theft, and the people and parking around stores for theft.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
