Topsail Beach is a town of 419 in Pender County, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Wilmington · Updated November 2026
Is Topsail Beach, NC safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Topsail Beach has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 70% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A against B-.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 691 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
30% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Topsail Beach as a whole, and 70% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Topsail Beach scores 691.
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 Topsail Beach, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Topsail Beach, 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
Crime rates and types in Topsail Beach
CrimeGrade™ estimates Topsail Beach has about 75 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about double the rate for the US as a whole and 85% more 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 Topsail Beach, about 53% 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 Topsail Beach Police Department sent the FBI no 2024 count of theft and no recent year to build on, so CrimeGrade™ made its own estimate.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Topsail Beach compares with nearby cities
Topsail Beach has the most crime of its 10 nearest cities.
Crime costs Topsail Beach about $2,749 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, more than 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 $3.4 million a year, or $8,161 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$440,000
$1,041
Rape
$9,600
$23
Robbery
$2,600
$6
Assault
$52,000
$125
Burglary
$7,200
$17
Theft
$86,000
$205
Vehicle theft
$16,000
$38
Arson
$1,300
$3
Vandalism
$49,000
$117
Total
$660,000
$1,575
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 Topsail Beach 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 Topsail Beach, NC average a SchoolGrade of A+: 72% of students test proficient, against 62% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Topsail Beach on SchoolGrade
