The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Carrboro, NC
Carrboro is a town of 22,400 in Orange County, next to Chapel Hill · Updated November 2026
Is Carrboro, NC safe?
Crime in Carrboro is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 66% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Carrboro. Violent crime grades B+ and property crime B. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Carrboro run from A+ to C, so check the map or the safest and least safe neighborhoods below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 728 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
34% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Carrboro as a whole, and 66% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Carrboro scores 728.
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 Carrboro, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Carrboro, 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 Carrboro
Car thefts run high in Rock Creek. In this part of southeast Carrboro, they run at about triple the rate in the rest of Carrboro.
Aggravated assaults are less common than in most B-graded cities. Carrboro has 1.3 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 3.1.
The safest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Carrboro
Most of Carrboro grades well: 84% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Carrboro run from A+ to C; 33% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
84%16%
A or B 84%C 16%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
1Lake Hogan Farms, northwestThefts run at about half the rate in the rest of Carrboro.A894
2Autumn Woods, southwestActs of vandalism run at about half the rate in the rest of Carrboro.A857
3Abbey Court, southClose to the rest of Carrboro on most crimes.B+721
4Rock Creek, southeastBurglaries run about 70% higher here than in the rest of Carrboro.B-570
Neighborhood areas of Carrboro, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Crime rates and types in Carrboro
CrimeGrade™ estimates Carrboro has about 44 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 18% 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Carrboro is assault, about 39% of the total. It also makes up 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 Carrboro
Carrboro has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Carrboro, 69% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 74% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (69%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (75%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (74%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Parking lots and garages (42%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (39%)
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 Carrboro compares with nearby cities
Of the 6 cities closest to Carrboro, 5 have less crime. Saxapahaw and Pittsboro have the least.
Two things set Carrboro apart: it has 13 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby, and 0.8 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery, and theft runs high here.
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 Carrboro: D+ (21 of 100).13 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 88% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.8 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 83% 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. 71% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (21 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 63% of US city residents
Show all 6
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.25 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 79% 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.71% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 77% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.25% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 63% 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 crime costs Carrboro
Crime costs Carrboro about $972 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 19% less than 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 $24 million a year, or $1,088 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.6 million
$70
Rape
$300,000
$13
Robbery
$130,000
$6
Assault
$3.4 million
$151
Burglary
$550,000
$25
Theft
$1.5 million
$69
Vehicle theft
$840,000
$38
Arson
$37,000
$2
Vandalism
$1.2 million
$55
Total
$9.6 million
$427
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 Carrboro 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 Carrboro, NC average a SchoolGrade of A+: 70% of students test proficient, against 61% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Carrboro on SchoolGrade
