The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Benson, NC
Benson is a town of 16,000 in Johnston County, about 25 miles south of downtown Raleigh · Updated November 2026
Is Benson, NC safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Benson is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Benson sits near the middle: 55% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 45% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades A and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Benson run from A+ to C-, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 860 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
55% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Benson as a whole, and 45% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Benson scores 860.
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 crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime 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 Benson, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Benson, 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 in Benson
Vandalism stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 3.0 acts of vandalism a year per 1,000 residents; Benson has 10.0.
The safest and least safe parts of Benson
Low crime is the norm across Benson: 92% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Benson run from A+ to C-; 72% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
92%
A or B 92%C 8%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Benson, the north side has the least crime and the center the most.
Crime rates and types in Benson
CrimeGrade™ estimates Benson has about 40 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 8% more than the US as a whole and close to North Carolina.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Assault is the most common crime in Benson, about 33% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. 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 crime happens in Benson
Benson has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Benson, 73% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 48% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (73%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (48%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (41%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (66%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Benson compares with nearby cities
Of the 8 cities closest to Benson, 6 have less crime. Coats Crossroads and Peacocks Crossroads have the least.
Two things set Benson apart: it has 39% of the land where people live lit at night, against 78% nationally, and a Walk Grade of F (6 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft and vandalism, and theft runs low here.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.NoneUS: 24%Lower than for 97% of US city residents
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.39% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 91% 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 and assault. 94% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.F (6 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 89% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.11.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 89% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Benson: 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 and robbery.27 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 76% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Benson on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 crime costs Benson
Crime costs Benson about $1,245 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about the same as the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $22 million a year, or $1,356 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.3 million
$79
Rape
$300,000
$19
Robbery
$72,000
$5
Assault
$2.4 million
$153
Burglary
$450,000
$28
Theft
$960,000
$60
Vehicle theft
$370,000
$23
Arson
$53,000
$3
Vandalism
$1.1 million
$71
Total
$7.0 million
$440
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Benson means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
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.
Schools in Benson, NC average a SchoolGrade of C-: 51% of students test proficient, against 44% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Benson on SchoolGrade
