you have to also consider that NC for its size has a fairly low population that lives outside of large metro areas... when a great majority of a states population lives in metro areas with heavy population density, crime will be higher per 100,000... i would imagine that if you went county by county in NC, you would see there are about 6 high crime areas... the triad, the triangle, wilmington, charlotte, fayetteville and jacksonville... this accounts for approximately 12-15 counties in a state with 100 counties...