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Hi, I've read a lot offices reviews on Wilmington and the current crime situation. We are considering a move here and are hesitant to even plan a trip due to these comments. Could anyone give me some clear information on this?
As a woman or child are you fearful to walk alone, or at certain hours?
Are stores/parking lots not safe?
Is there apparent gang issues?
Drugs?
Robberies/break-ins?
Rapes/murders?
I know everyone has their own opinion on safety, but I don't want to live somewhere that I worry about walking alone, my car getting broken into on the beach, my kids walking home from school, or just attending school. I'm not hoping to move to Oakland Ca, or Philly, I want a safe small town with trusting neighbors, a close family oriented community.
I moved back to St. Louis from Coastal NC, so suffice to say, I'm not somebody who is easily phased by crime hype.
As a female, I generally felt safe in Wilmington. I lived in Jacksonville but spent a LOT of time in Wilmington (because it's so much better than Jville). With that said, of course there are undesirable neighborhoods, and places I probably wouldn't walk alone after dark, but on the whole there are plenty of perfectly fine, safe areas.
Of course there are gangs, robberies, break ins and crime, and Eastern NC on the whole has a big drug problem. But every city of Wilmington's size or larger (and in some cases, smaller) is going to have these kinds of problems to some extent.
You made the comparison to Oakland or Philadelphia as far as crime goes. Oddly enough, Wilmington has a higher property crime rate than both of these cities, but a lower violent crime rate (fwiw, I love Philly and don't feel unsafe there either though). With regards to Wilmington's higher property crime rate, I'm willing to bet it's due to Wilmington being primarily a tourism based city. You'll find that other touristy cities such as Myrtle Beach, Orlando, etc also have high property crime from petty thieves targeting tourists. To the average person living there though, it may be a non issue.
From what you've described it sounds like you're seeking a Mayberry of sorts. I think for that kind of utopia you'd probably have to look for a very small town, and even then, they're not void of crime nowadays.
With that said though, if I had to move back to Coastal NC for any reason, Wilmington would be my first choice. I did have my car broken into on 2 occasions in Wilmington (while parked downtown), but that was over a 4 year period. I've had my car broken into and worse, other places I've lived around the world. I think to an extent we just have to come to accept a certain degree of crime, even in the nicest locales.
I've lived in Wilmington since 1996 and had 1 issue in 18 years. And it was a man with a mental illness that was homeless. There was no crime committed though.
I do know that Wilmington has combated any homeless issues and it appears much better now than it was 5-6 years ago.
Wilmington crime is localized to a few neighborhoods and rarely spills into any major commercial areas. I think the Public Housing Authority is trying to weed out some of the bad element.
Keep in mind that Wilmington is a tourist location...people come here all the time and have no problem...in fact there are more folks in town than its population shows (especially in the summer), so the crime rate per person is fairly skewed.
The statistics are available on the City-Data main profile. There were 8 murders in 2012, the last year available. That is 7.3 per hundred thousand. There were 23 rapes in 2012 or 21 per hundred thousand. I'd consider that a tolerable level, especially for a tourist place with downtown bars. I live nearby, and I have absolutely no fear of shopping or going out to dinner in Wilmington. If I were going bar-hopping, however, I would watch myself and not get into arguments with strangers. I also know of one murder in 2014 that was in a family neighborhood, so I speculate that it was drug deal gone bad.
If you want to compare to cities in Pennsylvania, then Erie, Allentown and Reading are of similar size, and Wilmington has fewer rapes and murders combined than each of the three cities. These Pennsylvania cities have twice the rate of rape as Wilmington.
The previous two posters have given you first-hand impressions, and I agree that no place is Mayberry. If you want a nearby small town with lower crime and no rapes or murders, you might look at Burgaw. https://www.city-data.com/city/Burgaw...-Carolina.html
Last edited by goldenage1; 06-04-2014 at 06:02 AM..
Thanks GA...I just don't think those numbers are even close to relevant though. New Hanover County is one of the most dense counties in the State of NC....and has over 200K....The City limits of Wilmington makes up over a 100K of that total....Kings Grant, Ogden, Monkey Junction, Porters Neck, the beach communities, etc...are all not in the City limits, but this is where many people spend their time and/or live, work and shop. The county numbers are not included in them, which would give a much more accurate representation of crime in Wilmington. The City Data site doesn't even have the City Limits of Wilmington correct.
As well, there are a ton of visitors in New Hanover County virtually at all times...and lots that come in from the surrounding counties. Certainly there are a lot more visitors in Wilmington than in Erie or Harrisburg PA...right?
To me this is what the forums are for...to disseminate the data being presented, which has boundaries and limits that are fairly arbitrary in nature. That data is HIGHLY skewed and should be taken with a grain of salt. Are there some problem area's in Wilmington...surely there are. But it is an overwhelmingly safe area, where you don't have any problems....and from what I can tell, the police are working on the problems they do have.
Thanks GA...I just don't think those numbers are even close to relevant though. New Hanover County is one of the most dense counties in the State of NC....and has over 200K....The City limits of Wilmington makes up over a 100K of that total....Kings Grant, Ogden, Monkey Junction, Porters Neck, the beach communities, etc...are all not in the City limits, but this is where many people spend their time and/or live, work and shop. The county numbers are not included in them, which would give a much more accurate representation of crime in Wilmington. The City Data site doesn't even have the City Limits of Wilmington correct.
I appreciate the comments. Unfortunately, the C-D crime numbers for New Hanover County are old (2004-2005), so it is hard to compare. I certainly agree that Ogden, Kings Grant etc have many very safe neighborhoods. The OP could put an Ogden address around Gordon Road into a tool like Spotcrime.com , and he would see little but thefts from the businesses around Market Street. One can also check the New Hanover County Sherrif's Department website, and see that there have been killings and gang-related drug sales. However, the NH Sheriff and the Wilmington PD seem to be co-operating and arresting suspects quickly. http://blog.newhanoversheriff.com.s8...ridserver.com/
The OP and family can decide for themselves whether to visit Wilmington, but I believe they have nothing to fear.
Last edited by goldenage1; 06-04-2014 at 09:21 AM..
We just moved to Wilmington and I too was concerned with several people's comments on crime. I am moving from a city that is smaller than Wilmington that has a much higher violent crime rate overall than Wilmington (there were 2 seperate shooting murders just last week)...so I might be a little bias.
But regardless, every city has bad areas. Every city has a certain level of crime. Even small town America has crime (grew up in a farming community in a town with a couple thousand people and there was still violent crime).
Also, with it being a college and tourist town you probably get some issues because of that.
All in all, with all of the times I have visited, the people I know who live here, and the time I have spent living here myself, I would honestly say overall it seems very safe.
There even plenty of areas downtown that are completely safe.
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