Glen Alpine is a town of 1,900 in Burke County, about 25 miles west of downtown Hickory · Updated November 2026
Is Glen Alpine, NC safe?
Crime in Glen Alpine is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 79% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Glen Alpine. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A- against C.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 558 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
21% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Glen Alpine as a whole, and 79% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Glen Alpine scores 558.
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 Glen Alpine, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Glen Alpine, 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 Glen Alpine
Crime per resident runs lower than the grade suggests. Few people come to Glen Alpine to work or shop: it has only 6 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. With few visitors, its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests. The CrimeGrade™ weighs each crime against the people, homes and parked cars actually here.
Crime rates and types in Glen Alpine
CrimeGrade™ estimates Glen Alpine has about 26 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 29% less than the US as a whole and 35% less than 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 is the most common crime in Glen Alpine, about 40% of everything reported.
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.
The Glen Alpine Police Department sent the FBI no 2024 counts of simple assault and theft and no recent year to build on, so CrimeGrade™ made its own estimates.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Glen Alpine compares with nearby cities
Glen Alpine has the most crime of its 5 nearest cities.
Crime costs Glen Alpine about $2,447 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about double 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 $8.9 million a year, or $4,676 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.2 million
$605
Rape
$25,000
$13
Robbery
$9,000
$5
Assault
$160,000
$84
Burglary
$30,000
$16
Theft
$100,000
$54
Vehicle theft
$38,000
$20
Arson
$3,300
$2
Vandalism
$46,000
$24
Total
$1.6 million
$823
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 Glen Alpine 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 Glen Alpine, NC average a SchoolGrade of C-: 51% of students test proficient, against 54% projected for schools like them. Overall, they underperform expectations. See schools in Glen Alpine on SchoolGrade
