Property Crime per Capita in Wake County
Property crime covers theft, burglary, vehicle theft, and arson, offenses against belongings rather than people. The map below shows the property crime rate per 1,000 Wake County residents.
Safest
Highest crime
Colorblind friendly
off
C
B |
|
Property Crime Grade |
C- |
Other Crime Grade |
C+ |
$165.1 million
Cost of Crime™ for Wake County, NC
In 2025, property crime will cost $362 per household.
On the map, green marks the parts of Wake County with the least property crime and red marks the most, weighted by the type and severity of each offense. Property crime is the most common category of crime, so these maps track closely with where stores, parking, and daytime foot traffic sit. The Interpreting the Crime Maps section below explains why busy commercial blocks can look worse than the neighborhoods around them.
The C- grade reflects how often theft, burglary, vehicle theft, and arson happen in Wake County against the average US county, where the rate is slightly higher than the norm. Wake County sits in the 37th percentile for property-crime safety, ahead of 37% of counties and behind 63%. The grade covers only Wake County's official city boundaries. See the table below for nearby counties.
The property crime rate in Wake County is 18.52 per 1,000 residents in a typical year. Residents generally point to the southwest part of the county as the safest for their belongings. Your odds of a property-crime loss range from 1 in 30 in the central areas to 1 in 111 in the southwest.
Counting total incidents instead of per-capita rates, the central parts of Wake County, NC report the most property crime, about 4,284 cases per year. The northwest part reports the fewest, around 996 per year.
The Cost of Crime™ in Wake County, NC
Property crime in Wake County is projected to cost $165,125,055 in 2025, about $138 per resident and $362 per household. That equals 0.3% of the median household income. All of it is measurable loss: replaced vehicles, repaired break-ins, stolen goods, and the policing and courts that respond. Because property crime leaves a repair bill rather than a lasting injury, these tangible costs make up its full economic toll. They split into:- Criminal justice system costs (law enforcement, courts, and imprisonment): 63.1%
- Direct costs to victims (damaged property, medical expenses, and lost wages): 31.2%
- Lost economic contribution from offenders (time in prison or repeat offenses): 5.7%
How Much Does Property Crime Cost in Wake County Compared to Other Counties?
| Wake County, NC: | $138 |
|---|---|
| Robeson County, NC: | $221 |
| Johnston County, NC: | $75 |
| North Carolina: | $142 |
| USA: | $136 |
Property crime costs $138 per resident each year in Wake County, which is $2 more than the national average and $4 less than North Carolina's state average. The comparison below uses counties similar to Wake County:
- In Robeson County, NC, crime costs $221 per person, which is $84 more than in Wake County.
- In Johnston County, NC, crime costs $75 per person, which is $62 less than in Wake County
2025 Projected Property Crime Cost by Type
The table below breaks the property-crime total into its four offenses for Wake County, with the projected cost per resident.Crime |
Cost to Wake County |
Cost per Wake County Resident |
|---|---|---|
Vehicle Theft |
$57.3 million |
$48 |
Burglary |
$22.7 million |
$19 |
Theft |
$82.3 million |
$69 |
Arson |
$2.80 million |
$2 |
Total Cost of Property Crime |
$165,125,055 |
$138 |
How the Property Crime Cost Is Estimated
Property crime carries no pain-and-suffering figure in this model. Its cost is the replacement and repair value of what was taken or damaged, plus the policing, courts, and lost offender productivity that follow. Stolen and damaged property has a market price, which is why this total is easier to pin down than the human cost of violent crime in Wake County, NC. All Cost of Crime figures come from scholarly research on the cost of crime. Read more about our methodology here.Interpreting the Property Crime Maps
Property crime rates are measured per resident, so places where shoppers and commuters outnumber residents read high. Stores are where shoplifting, theft, and vehicle break-ins happen, yet almost nobody lives there, so the per-capita rate climbs. How strongly this shows on the map depends on retail density; the north part of the county has more retail establishments. A red commercial strip does not mean the homes nearby are unsafe.
Parking lots and transit stops follow the same pattern: heavy daytime traffic, few residents, so per-capita property crime reads high. Major airports, of which Wake County has 1, are the extreme case. To judge a residential block, weigh both the per-capita rate and the total number of incidents, and note what sits nearby.
The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Wake County, NC at ISP Reports.Wake County Property Crime Breakdown
The table below shows which non-violent crimes are used to calculate the Crime Grade above. All property crime rates are shown as the number of crimes per 1,000 Wake County residents in a standard year.
Crime Type |
Crime Rate |
|---|---|
Theft |
13.26 |
Vehicle Theft |
3.085 |
Burglary |
2.084 |
Arson |
0.0965 |
Total Property Crime |
18.52 (C-) |
Individual Wake County Crime Maps & Stats
Crime Maps and Rates for Nearby Counties
Compared to surrounding counties, the rate of property crime in Wake County is similar. The table below shows Crime Grades for counties close to Wake County.
Nearby County | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
D- | D+ | D- | |
B+ | B | A- | |
B- | B- | B- | |
C- | C+ | D+ | |
C+ | C | C+ | |
B- | B | B- | |
B- | B | B- | |
C- | C- | D+ | |
C- | C- | D+ | |
D | D- | D |
Crime Maps and Rates for County with Similar Populations
Wake County is lower versus other counties of the same size for property crime. The table below compares crime in counties with comparable overall population in the county‘s boundaries.
Similar County | Overall Crime Grade | Violent Crime Grade | Property Crime Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
D- | D+ | D+ | |
D+ | C | C | |
B- | C- | C- | |
A- | B | B | |
D- | D- | D- | |
C- | C | C | |
C | D+ | D+ | |
A | A- | A- | |
A | B | B | |
F | D+ | D+ |
Considering only the property crime rate, Wake County is as safe as the North Carolina state average and as safe as the national average.
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