The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Greensboro, NC
The Greensboro metro area, the 79th-largest in the US, is home to 786,400 residents; Greensboro itself is the third-largest city in North Carolina · Updated November 2026
Is Greensboro, NC safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+, the Greensboro area has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 64% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades B+ and property crime A-. The city of Greensboro itself grades C+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the Greensboro area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 751 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
36% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the Greensboro 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 Greensboro area scores 751.
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 Greensboro, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Greensboro 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 Greensboro area
Burglaries run high in Cumberland, Tolbert & Textile Drive-Waugh Street. In this part of east Greensboro, they run at more than double the rate in the rest of Greensboro.
The safest and most dangerous places in the Greensboro area
In the Greensboro area, 75% of residents live in areas graded A or B, 9% in areas graded C and 16% in areas graded D or F. Grades across the Greensboro area run from A+ to F; 49% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
75%16%
A or B 75%C 9%D or F 16%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Greensboro
1Friendly Lakes, Brandt Trace Farms & Westwood, northwestBurglaries run at a small fraction of the rate in the rest of Greensboro.A854
2New Irving Park, Lake Jeanette & Battlefield, northBurglaries run at less than half the rate in the rest of Greensboro.B+750
3Woodlea Lakes & Clinton Heights, southeastBurglaries run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Greensboro.B641
4Starmount Forest, Hewitt & The Thicket, westRobberies run about 40% lower here than in the rest of Greensboro.B-573
5Adams Farm, Sedgefield Lakes & Hunter Hills, southwestClose to the rest of Greensboro on most crimes.C+508
7O Henry Oaks, Woodmere Park & Kings Forest, northeastRobberies run at about double the rate in the rest of Greensboro.D+279
8Rolling Roads, Smith Homes & Greenhaven, southRobberies run at about double the rate in the rest of Greensboro.D+232
9Cumberland, Tolbert & Textile Drive-Waugh Street, eastAggravated assaults run at more than double the rate in the rest of Greensboro.F0
Neighborhood areas of the city of Greensboro, 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 Greensboro 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 Liberty, Ramseur, and Franklinville areas have the least crime and the downtown Greensboro area the most.
Is crime going up in the Greensboro area?
Since 2019, reported property crime in the Greensboro area is down 22%, while violent crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.3 to 5.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 28 to 22 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Greensboro areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Greensboro area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Greensboro area
Violent, US
Property, Greensboro area
Property, US
2016
-16%
+4%
+4%
+15%
2017
-6%
+4%
+4%
+12%
2018
-19%
+0%
-6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+5%
+4%
-8%
-8%
2021
-4%
+6%
-13%
-10%
2022
-5%
+5%
-9%
-6%
2023
-7%
+2%
-13%
-7%
2024
-2%
-4%
-22%
-15%
Crime rates and types in the Greensboro area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Greensboro area has about 47 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 25% 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 the Greensboro area is assault, about 35% 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 the Greensboro area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Greensboro area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Greensboro area, 67% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 42% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (67%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (42%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (49%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (43%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (60%)
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 Greensboro area compares with nearby metro areas
Of the 10 metro areas closest to the Greensboro area, 8 have less crime. The Raleigh area and the Greenville area have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Greensboro area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Greensboro area has more crime than 77% of them.
Night lighting, density and transit in the Greensboro area
One thing sets the Greensboro area apart: it has 8% 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.
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.69% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 87% of Americans in metro areas
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.8% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 86% of Americans in metro areas
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 Greensboro area: D- (6 of 100).under 1 trip an hourUS: noneLower than for 84% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.7.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 75% 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 Greensboro area
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs the Greensboro area about $1,549 a year per household, 28% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $483 million 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 $1.69 billion a year, or $2,148 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$118 million
$150
Rape
$12 million
$15
Robbery
$21 million
$27
Assault
$162 million
$205
Burglary
$24 million
$31
Theft
$60 million
$77
Vehicle theft
$44 million
$56
Arson
$3.9 million
$5
Vandalism
$38 million
$48
Total
$483 million
$615
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 Greensboro 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 Greensboro 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
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 Greensboro area average a SchoolGrade of C-: 52% of students test proficient, against 43% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in the Greensboro area on SchoolGrade
