The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Wilson, NC
Wilson is a city of 56,200 in Wilson County, about 16 miles southwest of downtown Rocky Mount · Updated November 2026
Is Wilson, NC safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Wilson has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 75% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A- against C+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Wilson run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 626 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
25% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Wilson as a whole, and 75% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Wilson scores 626.
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 Wilson, NC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Wilson, 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 Wilson
Murders run high for a B-graded city. Wilson has 0.22 murders a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US city, the figure is 0.04.
Robbery is a strength. Wilson grades C+ for violent crime, but robbery grades A.
The safest and least safe parts of Wilson
Safety changes a lot from one part of Wilson to the next: 64% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 30% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across Wilson run from A+ to F; 26% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
64%30%
A or B 64%C 6%D or F 30%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Wilson, the southwest side has the least crime and the east side the most.
Is crime going up in Wilson?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Wilson is up 26% and property crime is down 25%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.5 to 5.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 32 to 24 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
WilsonUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Wilson. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Wilson
Violent, US
Property, Wilson
Property, US
2016
+17%
+4%
+18%
+15%
2017
+44%
+4%
+8%
+12%
2018
+14%
+0%
+11%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+24%
+4%
-6%
-8%
2021
+35%
+6%
-19%
-10%
2022
+13%
+5%
-23%
-6%
2023
+13%
+2%
-18%
-7%
2024
+26%
-4%
-25%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Wilson
CrimeGrade™ estimates Wilson has about 43 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 15% 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 Wilson, 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 Wilson
Wilson has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Wilson, 70% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 52% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (70%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (53%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (52%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (57%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (56%)
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 Wilson compares with nearby cities
Wilson has the most crime of its 4 nearest cities.
Empty homes, parking lots and walkability in Wilson
Two things set Wilson apart: it has 10.4% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally, and 3.2 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson, and they run high here.
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.10.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 87% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 87% 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. 84% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (14 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 61% 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 Wilson: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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.3% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 83% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.13.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 82% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Wilson 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 Wilson
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Wilson about $1,975 a year per household, 64% more than 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 $218 million a year, or $3,878 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$23 million
$404
Rape
$840,000
$15
Robbery
$970,000
$17
Assault
$10 million
$183
Burglary
$1.3 million
$24
Theft
$5.0 million
$88
Vehicle theft
$1.9 million
$34
Arson
$350,000
$6
Vandalism
$2.6 million
$46
Total
$46 million
$818
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 Wilson 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 Wilson, NC average a SchoolGrade of B-: 58% of students test proficient, against 38% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Wilson on SchoolGrade
