Aiken, SC carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 62% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Aiken, SC shows violent crime at 568.9 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,958.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 62% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
F safety grade
568.9/100K violent
3958.3/100K property
+62% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Aiken, SC
Comparable rate records
Aiken's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the South Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Aiken's 568.9 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Timmonsville (569.8), Williston (561.2), Anderson (560.5), Yemassee (556.6). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 809.5 per 100,000 in 2020 to 568.9 in 2024 (-29.7%). The highest observed value was 809.5 in 2020 and the lowest 340.0 in 2023. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Aiken sits mid-pack among comparable South Carolina cities
At 568.9 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Aiken ranks 61 of 149 — above 88 of the 148 other South Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +37.2% against the cohort median of 414.6. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Property counts dominate Aiken's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Aiken's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 21.8 Census sq mi, Aiken logged 60.5 property and 8.7 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Aiken's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (75% of 1,504 offenses; mix index 5,831).
Violent offenses are only 13% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (21.8 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+67.3%
340 → 568.9/100K
Property Crime Rate
+4.6%
3783.2 → 3958.3/100K
Property offenses lead Aiken's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs SC
Property Crime
1,315
3958.3
1711
1988.2
Larceny-Theft
1,131
3404.5
-
-
Burglary
113
340.1
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
71
213.7
-
-
Arson
4
12
-
-
Violent Crime
189
568.9
352
439.3
Aggravated Assault
146
439.5
-
-
Robbery
20
60.2
-
-
Rape
19
57.2
-
-
Murder
4
12
-
-
Aiken Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Aiken property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Aiken Police Department
Reporting agency for Aiken NIBRS-participating
Aiken Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Aiken's 1,504 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in South Carolina
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the South Carolina cities closest to Aiken in population. Their populations run from 27,617 to 39,186, against 33,221 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Aiken at 568.9/100K violent and 3,958.3/100K property - matched below outside South Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Aiken reported 189 violent crimes and 1,315 property crimes, for a total of 1,504 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Aiken?
From 2023 to 2024, Aiken's violent crime rate increased by 67.3%, and the property crime rate increased by 4.6%.
What is the most common crime in Aiken?
The most common crime type in Aiken is larceny-theft, accounting for 75.2% of all reported crimes (1,131 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Aiken figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.