Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Cary, North Carolina, in Wake County, has about 183,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cary is held at the county jail, run by the Wake County Sheriff's Office, and the jail's record of each person held is a public record. This guide says where to look for someone in custody, what the jail holds and who books people into it.
This guide covers the search, the jail, who books people, state prison and common questions.
Related guides: Cary public records, Wake County inmate search, Cary arrest records, Cary warrants, Cary criminal records, Cary court records, North Carolina arrest records and North Carolina inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in Cary
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cary is held at the county jail, run by the Wake County Sheriff's Office, whichever agency made the arrest.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Wake County Sheriff's Office at wakeso.policetocitizen.com/Inmates (page title: Police To Citizen), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
That page is the office's jail information page rather than a roster.
The Wake County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 1,460 people, up from about 1,200 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,569 beds, and it ran at 90 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Wake County has about 1.2 million residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 12 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Wake County Jail
The Wake County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Cary (filed by the FBI as Cary Police Department) make the arrests that end in a booking in and around Cary.
The FBI's agency list also places four other agencies, three campus police departments and six state agencies in Wake County (the arrest records guide names each one).
The Angier Police Department and the Durham Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Wake County, so their arrests are not broken out for Wake County here.
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were Raleigh's 25,147 for 2025, the Wake County Sheriff's Office's 2,251 for 2025 and Garner's 1,472 for 2025.
Together, the 12 agencies in Wake County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 33,810 arrests to the FBI that year. Those kept in custody were booked into the county jail; a person cited and released at the scene was not.
The counts, agency by agency and year by year, are in Cary arrest records.
From the Jail to State Prison
The jail holds people awaiting trial and people serving short sentences. A person sentenced to prison in Wake County serves the sentence in a facility of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, whose inmate locator is at dac.nc.gov/dac-services/criminal-offender-searches.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in Cary?
Ask the Wake County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at wakeso.policetocitizen.com/Inmates.
How many people are in the Wake County jail?
About 1,460 on an average day in 2024, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 1,569 beds.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Wake County go?
To a facility of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction; its inmate locator is at dac.nc.gov.
Is this the official Cary website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.