Crime & Safety in Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem's crime rate runs well above the national average by every source reviewed this session, though the sources disagree on exact scale, including two figures from the same site (CrimeGrade) that don't fully reconcile with each other. What's also real and consistent across sources: crime declined in 2025, not just held steady or worsened.
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Learn moreViolent Crime: Sources Disagree on Scale, Agree on Direction
CrimeGrade.org assigns Winston-Salem a D+ grade for violent crime, placing it in the 25th percentile for violent-crime safety nationally -- meaning it's safer than only about 25% of U.S. cities on this measure, worse than the other 75%. CrimeGrade's own headline figure cites a violent crime rate of 4.449 per 1,000 residents in a typical year, but a separately cited figure (sourced to the same general crime-data landscape) put Winston-Salem's violent crime rate at 8.04 per 1,000 -- nearly double the first figure. NeighborhoodScout, working from its own methodology, cites a violent-crime-victim probability of 1 in 124, which converts to about 8.06 per 1,000 -- closely matching the 8.04 figure but not CrimeGrade's own 4.449 headline number. This internal inconsistency is disclosed rather than resolved; what's consistent across all readings is that the rate sits well above the national average, not marginally above it.
Property Crime and Overall Crime Rate
NeighborhoodScout cites a property-crime-victim probability of 1 in 34 (about 29.4 per 1,000), closely matching a separately cited 29.01-per-1,000 property crime figure. Combined violent-or-property victimization odds are cited at about 1 in 27. NeighborhoodScout's overall crime rate figure -- 37 per 1,000 residents -- is described as "one of the highest in America compared to all communities of all sizes," with more than 89% of North Carolina communities cited as having a lower crime rate than Winston-Salem. This is a genuinely unfavorable comparison, both nationally and within-state, and is stated plainly rather than softened.
A Real, Recent Improvement Worth Stating Plainly
Multiple sources agree crime fell in 2025, not just held flat: NeighborhoodScout cites the 2025 crime rate as down 6% compared with 2024, with homicides falling to 27 (down 2 from 2024). Winston-Salem Police Department data separately shows violent crime down 2% year-over-year in 2025. These are two different measures (an overall crime-rate index versus a specific violent-crime figure) showing improvement of different magnitudes, but both point the same direction -- a real trend, not source noise, even though the city's crime rate remains well above the national average in absolute terms.
Neighborhood-to-Neighborhood Variance
As in any city, a citywide figure blends genuinely different neighborhoods. CrimeGrade publishes neighborhood-specific breakdowns (Ardmore and East Winston, among others, are separately tracked) that show meaningfully different violent-crime rates from the citywide average -- consistent with the best-areas topic page's description of Reynolda, Buena Vista, and West End as the city's more established, lower-crime residential areas. Anyone narrowing in on a specific address should check CrimeGrade's or NeighborhoodScout's neighborhood-level tool directly rather than relying on the citywide figures in this section.
Key takeaways
- CrimeGrade gives Winston-Salem a D+ for violent crime (25th percentile nationally for safety) but cites two internally inconsistent rate figures (4.449 vs. 8.04 per 1,000) -- disclosed as an unreconciled discrepancy rather than resolved.
- NeighborhoodScout's 1-in-124 violent-crime-victim odds (~8.06 per 1,000) lines up with the higher CrimeGrade-adjacent figure; property crime odds are 1-in-34 (~29.4 per 1,000), and combined violent-or-property odds are about 1-in-27.
- The overall NeighborhoodScout crime rate (37 per 1,000) is cited as one of the highest in America across all city sizes, with more than 89% of NC communities showing a lower rate.
- Crime fell in 2025 across multiple independent readings -- NeighborhoodScout cites a 6% overall decline and 2 fewer homicides (27 total) year-over-year; WSPD cites violent crime down 2% -- a real, if modest, improving trend.
- Neighborhood-level variance is real and significant -- check CrimeGrade's or NeighborhoodScout's specific-neighborhood tools before relying on any citywide figure for a specific address decision.
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