Wilmington, NC Crime Map

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions: Wilmington, NC Crime & Safety

Is Wilmington, NC safe?

Yes — by the numbers, Wilmington is a notably safe city. Of the 83 neighborhoods analyzed for the 2026 crime map, 77.1% (64 neighborhoods) earned an A grade, and a combined 90% of neighborhoods fall into the safe-to-very-safe range (A or B grades). Only 4% of neighborhoods — specifically Airport Industrial District (F) and Dry Pond / South Side (D) — are classified as higher-crime areas. Standout safe communities include Woodberry Forest, Masonboro, Landsdowne, and Beasley, all of which carry A+ ratings. The city-wide safety rating across all 83 neighborhoods aggregates to a Very Safe (A) designation, even though the overall city-level crime grade sits at C+, which reflects the concentration of incidents in a small number of districts rather than a broad citywide problem.

What is the crime rate in Wilmington, NC in 2026?

Wilmington's 2026 crime picture is best understood through its grade distribution across 83 neighborhoods. 64 neighborhoods (77.1%) received an A grade, meaning very low crime activity. Another 11 neighborhoods (13.3%) earned a B, indicating below-average crime. Moving down the scale, 5 neighborhoods (6%) sit at C, 2 neighborhoods (2.4%) are graded D — Dry Pond / South Side and Northside — and just 1 neighborhood (1.2%), the Airport Industrial District, received an F. Put simply, nine out of every ten Wilmington neighborhoods are graded safe or better, while fewer than one in twenty fall into the elevated-risk D or F categories. This distribution suggests that crime in Wilmington is highly localized rather than widespread.

What are the safest neighborhoods in Wilmington, NC?

Ten Wilmington neighborhoods earned the top A+ safety grade in 2026. Here is how they compare:

• Masonboro — A+, median household income $124,681, population 3,038
• Woodberry Forest — A+, median household income $120,589, population 1,664
• Beasley — A+, median household income $113,239, population 3,353
• Landsdowne — A+, median household income $106,201, population 4,372
• Tanglewood — A+, median household income $98,757, population 1,849
• Masonboro Forest — A+, median household income $97,330, population 399
• Blue Clay Farms — A+, median household income $90,875, population 1,988
• Cypress Parke — A+, median household income $80,088, population 265
• RiverLights — A+, median household income $80,109, population 1,653
• Lords Creek — A+, median household income $61,176, population 1,590

Notably, Lords Creek achieves an A+ rating at a median income closer to the city median of $51,137, demonstrating that top safety grades are not exclusively tied to the highest-income brackets. All ten neighborhoods collectively house tens of thousands of residents in what the crime map classifies as Wilmington's lowest-risk zones.

Which neighborhoods in Wilmington have higher crime?

Five neighborhoods account for the majority of Wilmington's elevated crime activity, and together they represent just 8.4% of the 83 neighborhoods analyzed. The Airport Industrial District holds the only F grade in the city — a non-residential zone where industrial land use patterns contribute to concentrated property and vehicle crime. Dry Pond / South Side and Northside both carry D-range grades (D and D+ respectively), and both are located in the older, lower-income corridors of central and northern Wilmington. Hemenway and Old East Wilmington each received a C- grade, placing them in the below-average but not extreme category. Residents and visitors who spend time in these areas are encouraged to stay aware of surroundings, secure vehicles, and report suspicious activity to the Wilmington Police Department.

How does Wilmington's overall crime grade compare to its neighborhood safety rating?

This is one of the most data-revealing aspects of the 2026 Wilmington crime map. The city-level overall crime grade is C+, yet the city-wide neighborhood safety rating aggregates to Very Safe (A). How can both be true? The C+ city grade reflects Wilmington's crime counts relative to national benchmarks for a city of its size (260,170 residents), factoring in absolute incident volumes. The Very Safe (A) neighborhood rating, by contrast, reflects that 90% of individual neighborhoods score in the A or B range, meaning the vast majority of residential areas experience low crime day-to-day. In practical terms, a resident living in Landsdowne, Beasley, or RiverLights experiences a very different safety environment than the city-level C+ grade might initially suggest.

Is Wilmington, NC a good place to live in 2026?

For most residents, the answer is yes — with important context. Wilmington's population of 260,170 is supported by a median household income of $51,137, a median home value of $264,773, and a median rent of $1,008 — figures that reflect a relatively accessible housing market by coastal North Carolina standards. The unemployment rate of 4.9% is near the national average, though the poverty rate of 19.2% is above average and correlates with the elevated crime grades seen in Dry Pond / South Side and Northside. On the safety side, 77.1% of neighborhoods are A-graded and 90% are A or B, meaning the overwhelming majority of housing options sit in low-crime zones. Families prioritizing safety would do well to focus their search on A+ communities like Masonboro, Woodberry Forest, Beasley, or Landsdowne, all of which combine strong safety grades with established neighborhood infrastructure.

How do I use the Wilmington crime map effectively?

The Wilmington crime map is most useful when you look beyond a single city-wide grade and examine the neighborhood-level letter grades directly. With 83 neighborhoods graded on an A-through-F scale, you can quickly identify that areas like Blue Clay Farms (A+) and Tanglewood (A+) sit at the opposite end of the spectrum from Airport Industrial District (F). Use the map to compare grades when evaluating a move, planning a commute, or choosing a route for evening activities. Cross-referencing the crime grade with population density (city average: 917 per sq mi) and income data adds further context — for instance, Lords Creek achieves an A+ grade despite a median income closer to the city average, showing that safety grades reflect actual incident data, not just demographics. For real-time incident data, the Wilmington Police Department publishes updated reports that complement the grade-based analysis on this page.