Crime & Safety in Jacksonville
Two independent sources -- CrimeGrade and NeighborhoodScout -- agree that Jacksonville's crime rate runs above both North Carolina's and the national average, even though their exact per-1,000 figures differ, a real pattern connected in part to being a dense, transient garrison city.
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Learn moreCrimeGrade's read
CrimeGrade.org cites an overall crime rate of 37.14 incidents per 1,000 residents, with violent crime specifically at 3.915 per 1,000 and property crime more prevalent, at 19.23 per 1,000. Residents generally consider the northwest part of the city safest, with the chance of victimization ranging from about 1 in 16 in central neighborhoods to 1 in 36 in the northwest, per CrimeGrade's own reporting.
NeighborhoodScout's read: lower overall rate, same direction
NeighborhoodScout cites a lower overall crime rate of 23 per 1,000 residents (a 1-in-44 annual chance of victimization), still describing Jacksonville's crime rate as "considerably higher than the national average across all communities" and higher than 76% of North Carolina cities and towns of all sizes -- not among the very highest by its own framing, but consistently above-average.
Both sources agree in direction; a plausible, disclosed connection to being a garrison city
As with several other markets in this dataset, CrimeGrade and NeighborhoodScout differ on the precise scale (37.14 vs. 23 per 1,000) but agree that Jacksonville runs above both state and national averages. A dense, young, transient population tied to a major military installation is a plausible contributing factor to elevated reported crime rates in garrison cities generally -- disclosed here as a reasonable contextual observation, not a sourced causal claim specific to Jacksonville.
Check a specific address directly, and expect real block-level variance
As with any city, block-level and neighborhood-level variance is real, and per site policy no specific lower-rated area is named here. CrimeGrade cites the northwest part of Jacksonville as generally considered safest by residents -- check a specific address directly with both CrimeGrade.org and NeighborhoodScout before drawing conclusions about a particular neighborhood.
Key takeaways
- CrimeGrade.org cites an overall crime rate of 37.14 per 1,000 residents, with violent crime at 3.915 per 1,000 and property crime more prevalent at 19.23 per 1,000.
- NeighborhoodScout cites a lower overall rate of 23 per 1,000, still describing Jacksonville as "considerably higher than the national average" and higher-crime than 76% of NC cities/towns.
- Both sources agree in DIRECTION (above state/national averages) even though exact figures differ -- a real, disclosed, if unconfirmed-as-causal, pattern plausibly connected to being a dense, transient garrison city.
- No specific area is named as unsafe here per site policy; residents generally consider the northwest part of the city safest. Check a specific address directly with both sources.
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