The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Lenoir, NC
Lenoir is a city of 34,700 in Caldwell County, about 17 miles northwest of downtown Hickory · Updated November 2026
Is Lenoir, NC safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Lenoir is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Lenoir sits near the middle: 53% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 47% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades A and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Lenoir run from A+ to C, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 849 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
53% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Lenoir as a whole, and 47% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Lenoir scores 849.
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 Lenoir, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Lenoir, 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 Lenoir
Burglaries run high for an A-graded city. Lenoir has 6.3 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2.
Aggravated assault runs low. Lenoir has 1.2 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, about half the US rate of 2.6.
The safest and least safe parts of Lenoir
Most of Lenoir grades well: 98% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Lenoir run from A+ to C; 61% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
98%
A or B 98%C 2%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Lenoir, the northwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Crime rates and types in Lenoir
CrimeGrade™ estimates Lenoir has about 42 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 12% 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 is the most common crime in Lenoir, about 33% 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.
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 Lenoir
Lenoir has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Lenoir, 61% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 45% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (61%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (54%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Homes (45%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (38%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (57%)
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 Lenoir compares with nearby cities
Of the 6 cities closest to Lenoir, 4 have less crime. Hudson and Rutherford College have the least.
Two things set Lenoir apart: it has 44% of the land where people live lit at night, against 78% nationally, and 1% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft and vandalism; here theft and vandalism sit near the national middle.
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.44% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 89% 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.1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 88% 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. 95% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (6 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 88% of US city residents
Show all 6
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 Lenoir: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.8.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 79% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.2.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 71% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Lenoir 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 Lenoir
Crime costs Lenoir about $1,212 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 $56 million a year, or $1,608 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$4.9 million
$140
Rape
$740,000
$21
Robbery
$270,000
$8
Assault
$4.0 million
$116
Burglary
$2.0 million
$57
Theft
$2.5 million
$71
Vehicle theft
$920,000
$27
Arson
$200,000
$6
Vandalism
$1.6 million
$46
Total
$17 million
$491
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 Lenoir 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 Lenoir, NC average a SchoolGrade of C-: 51% of students test proficient, against 45% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Lenoir on SchoolGrade
