Arrests per 100,000 residentsArizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) · Oct 12, 2026
Chart
North Carolina DWI Arrests by Year
DWI arrests in North Carolina by year from 2014 to 2024, as the State Bureau of Investigation counts them, for all ages, adults or juveniles under 18, with the share of residents the reporting agencies cover and a marked break in the series between 2018 and 2019. Read every value in a table, including each count as first printed.
North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation · Oct 31, 20262014–2024
- DWI arrests, 2024 (printed once)
- 14,649−6.1% vs 2023
- 2019–2024, after the break
- 14,808 → 14,649−1.1%
- 2014–2018, before the break
- 43,493 → 35,265−18.9%
Share of the state’s residents covered by the agencies that reported
Break in the series between 2018 and 2019. DWI arrests fall from 35,265 in 2018 to 14,808 in 2019. The reports attribute the lower share of residents covered (96.5% to 88.4%) to agencies moving from the Summary Reporting System to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The drop in DWI arrests is far larger than the change in coverage, and the reports say nothing more about it. Compare years on the same side of the break, not across it.
The lighter bar is 2024, printed once so far. Every earlier year came out higher in the next year’s report, so 2024 may too. The table has each count as first printed.
Adults are people 18 or older and juveniles people under 18, as the Bureau’s table counts them. The share covered is the part of the state’s residents who live where the reporting agencies work; arrests by agencies that did not report are not in the counts.
Counts are the DWI arrests that North Carolina law enforcement agencies reported to the State Bureau of Investigation: arrests, not people, and only the agencies that report are counted. They are not a measure of how much impaired driving there is: enforcement effort shapes them. The Bureau publishes no county figures for arrests, so the chart has none.
What it shows
Shows the DWI arrests that North Carolina law enforcement agencies reported to the State Bureau of Investigation, for the state as a whole, year by year from 2014. The bars are all ages; switch to adults (18 or older) or juveniles (under 18). A second plot below shows the share of the state’s residents covered by the agencies that reported. A break between 2018 and 2019 is marked: the counts from 2019 on do not compare with 2018 and earlier, and the chart does not join them. The next year’s report prints the year before again and every earlier year came out higher, so the table also shows each count as first printed. The Bureau publishes no county figures for arrests, so the chart has none.
How to read it
- Each bar is one year’s DWI arrests for the whole state. The dashed line between 2018 and 2019 marks a break in the series: compare years on the same side of it, not across it.
- The lighter bar is the newest year, printed once so far. Every earlier year came out higher in the next year’s report, so the newest may too.
- The plot below the bars is the share of the state’s residents covered by the agencies that reported. A year with lower coverage counts fewer agencies’ arrests.
- The table lists every count, the count as first printed, and the share covered.
- Arrests are not people, and the counts reflect enforcement effort as well as behavior.
Useful on: North Carolina DWI law and penalty pages · Local news on enforcement trends · Highway-safety and prevention reports.
About the data
North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation · Oct 31, 2026- 1.1
- 1.2
Period. 2014–2024
- 1.3
As of. Oct 31, 2026
- 1.4
Reuse. Embed this chart for free, with the credit line its code carries; the data is not offered as a download. To quote a figure, name duiarrested.com and link to this page. The source keeps its own terms for its data. Reuse and credit.
- 1.5
Coverage. DWI arrests statewide, 2014 to 2024, juveniles under 18 and adults, from Table 7 (arrests by offense and age) of the Bureau's annual “Crime in North Carolina” summaries for 2015 to 2024. Each summary prints its own year and the year before.
- 1.6
Caveat. Series break between 2018 and 2019: DWI arrests fall from 35,265 to 14,808. The reports attribute the lower share of residents covered (96.5% to 88.4%) to agencies moving from the Summary Reporting System to NIBRS; the drop is far larger than the change in coverage, and the reports say nothing more about it. Do not read 2019 onward against 2018 and earlier.
- 1.7
Caveat. Statewide only. The Bureau's county and city tables are of crime index offenses, not arrests, so the site has no North Carolina county figures for DWI arrests.
Show 3 more notesShow fewer notes
- 1.8
Caveat. The row is labelled “DWI”; the reports define only the index offenses and give no definition of DWI.
- 1.9
Caveat. Only agencies that report to the Bureau are counted. The reports print the share of the state's residents those agencies cover, which differs from year to year.
- 1.10
Caveat. Each report counts what agencies had sent the Bureau by its date, and the next report prints the year before again. Each year's figure here is the one from the following report where there is one, and the figure as first printed is kept beside it: every year from 2015 to 2023 came out higher the second time, by 0.1% to 2.1%. 2024 has been printed once, so a later report may print it higher.
Cite this chart
duiarrested.com, "North Carolina DWI Arrests by Year". Data: North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, 2014–2024, retrieved Oct 31, 2026. https://www.duiarrested.com/data/north-carolina-dwi-arrests-by-year
To quote a figure from this chart, name duiarrested.com and link to this page. In print, paste the line above. On a web page, paste the version with a link below: we ask for a normal link, and how it is marked up is your choice. To show the chart itself, embed it.
<a href="https://www.duiarrested.com/data/north-carolina-dwi-arrests-by-year">duiarrested.com</a>, "North Carolina DWI Arrests by Year". Data: North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, 2014–2024, retrieved Oct 31, 2026.Related pages
- County pageMecklenburg County
- County pageWake County
- County pageGuilford County
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