The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Charlotte, NC
The Charlotte metro area, the 23rd-largest in the US, is home to 2.77 million residents in North Carolina and South Carolina; Charlotte itself is the largest city in North Carolina · Updated November 2026
Is Charlotte, NC safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, the Charlotte area has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 64% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent and property crime both grade B+ here. The city of Charlotte itself grades C+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the Charlotte area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 748 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
36% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the Charlotte area as a whole, and 64% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Charlotte area scores 748.
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 Charlotte, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Charlotte area, 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 the Charlotte area
Robberies run high in Windsor Park, Hickory Ridge & North Sharon Amity. In this part of east Charlotte, they run at more than triple the rate in the rest of Charlotte.
Car thefts happen at homes far more often than nationally. In the Charlotte area, 62% of reported car thefts happen at homes, against 33% nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in the Charlotte area
Low crime is the norm across the Charlotte area: 78% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 14% in areas graded D or F. Grades across the Charlotte area run from A+ to F; 51% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
78%14%
A or B 78%C 8%D or F 14%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhood areas of the city of Charlotte, 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.
Cities and towns in the Charlotte metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the area, the Lincolnton and Denver areas have the least crime and the downtown Charlotte area the most.
Is crime going up in the Charlotte area?
Reported violent crime in the Charlotte area peaked in 2020 and has fallen 17% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 18% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.6 to 4.3 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 27 to 22 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Charlotte areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Charlotte area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Charlotte area
Violent, US
Property, Charlotte area
Property, US
2016
-1%
+4%
+9%
+15%
2017
-6%
+4%
+4%
+12%
2018
-7%
+0%
+0%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+12%
+4%
-11%
-8%
2021
+5%
+6%
-18%
-10%
2022
-5%
+5%
-18%
-6%
2023
-6%
+2%
-14%
-7%
2024
-7%
-4%
-18%
-15%
Crime rates and types in the Charlotte area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Charlotte area 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.
Theft makes up about 37% of crime reported in the Charlotte area. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
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 the Charlotte area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Charlotte area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Charlotte area, 56% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 53% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (56%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (62%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (53%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (55%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (59%)
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 the Charlotte area compares with nearby metro areas
The Charlotte area has the most crime of its 10 nearest metro areas.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Charlotte area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Density, night lighting and empty homes in the Charlotte area
One thing sets the Charlotte area apart: it has 10% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less robbery and car theft, yet robbery and car theft run higher here than that would suggest.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.10% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 80% of Americans in metro areas
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.78% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 73% of Americans in metro areas
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.6.8% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 67% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Charlotte area: D- (8 of 100).7 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 66% of Americans in metro areas
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 the Charlotte area
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs the Charlotte area about $1,508 a year per household, 25% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $1.56 billion a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $5.38 billion a year, or $1,944 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$389 million
$140
Rape
$43 million
$15
Robbery
$57 million
$21
Assault
$484 million
$175
Burglary
$77 million
$28
Theft
$232 million
$84
Vehicle theft
$162 million
$59
Arson
$7.3 million
$3
Vandalism
$108 million
$39
Total
$1.56 billion
$563
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 the Charlotte area 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. These figures cover the whole Charlotte metro area. 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
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department publishes its own crime data
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 the Charlotte area average a SchoolGrade of C+: 56% of students test proficient, against 45% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in the Charlotte area on SchoolGrade
