The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Rowan County, NC
Rowan County is home to 149,900 residents and includes Salisbury and Kannapolis · Updated November 2026
Is Rowan County, NC safe?
Yes, crime in Rowan County is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Rowan County sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 44% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Rowan County run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 806 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
44% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Rowan County as a whole, and 56% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Rowan County scores 806.
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 Rowan County, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Rowan County, 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 Rowan County
Car thefts happen at homes far more often than nationally. In Rowan County, 58% of reported car thefts happen at homes, against 33% nationally.
Murder runs high. Rowan County has about 17 murders a year, a rate about double the national one.
The safest and most dangerous places in Rowan County
Most of Rowan County grades well: 84% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 10% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Rowan County run from A+ to F; 60% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
84%10%
A or B 84%C 6%D or F 10%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Cities and towns in Rowan County 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 county, the Cleveland area has the least crime and the Salisbury area the most.
Crime rates and types in Rowan County
CrimeGrade™ estimates Rowan County has about 30 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 20% less than the US as a whole and 27% 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 Rowan County, about 40% of everything reported, but murder costs more, because each one does far 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 Rowan County
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across Rowan County, 2022 to 2024.
In Rowan County, 70% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 54% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (70%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (58%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (54%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (54%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (63%)
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 Rowan County compares with nearby counties
Rowan County has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest counties. Yadkin County and Randolph County have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Rowan County apart: it has 1% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 46% of the land where people live lit at night, against 78% nationally. Places like that tend to report less robbery, yet robbery runs 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.1% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 92% of Americans
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.8.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 87% of Americans
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. 91% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (8 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 86% of Americans
Show all 6
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.46% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 86% of Americans
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.36 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 70% of Americans
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary and arson.7.8% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 70% of Americans
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 Rowan County
Crime costs Rowan County about $1,345 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 12% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $77 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 $336 million a year, or $2,242 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$31 million
$206
Rape
$2.1 million
$14
Robbery
$2.2 million
$15
Assault
$19 million
$125
Burglary
$3.3 million
$22
Theft
$9.1 million
$60
Vehicle theft
$7.0 million
$47
Arson
$260,000
$2
Vandalism
$3.6 million
$24
Total
$77 million
$515
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 Rowan County 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 Rowan County, NC average a SchoolGrade of D: 45% of students test proficient, against 45% projected for schools like them. Overall, they underperform expectations. See schools in Rowan County on SchoolGrade
