Athens-Clarke County, GA has a C safety grade (40/100) with a violent crime rate of 406 per 100,000, 15% above the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · large city
Athens-Clarke County, GA Crime Rate & Safety
At 129,765 residents, Athens-Clarke County is a large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against GA and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
Athens-Clarke County, GA carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 15% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Athens-Clarke County, GA shows violent crime at 406.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,276.4 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 15% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
406.1/100K violent
2276.4/100K property
+15% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Athens-Clarke County, GA
Comparable rate records
Athens-Clarke County's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Georgia cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Athens-Clarke County's 406.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Hartwell (404.4), Hahira (401.8), Fitzgerald (392.3), McRae-Helena (388.3). 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.
Position in the state cohort
Athens-Clarke County reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Georgia cities
At 406.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Athens-Clarke County ranks 43 of 186 — above 143 of the 185 other Georgia cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +103.9% against the cohort median of 199.2. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 529.1 per 100,000 in 2020 to 406.1 in 2024 (-23.2%). The highest observed value was 599.2 in 2022 and the lowest 406.1 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Athens-Clarke County'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.
On a large city row, these are citywide reported offense totals - not neighbourhood advice. Conditions vary by place and time; reporting rates differ across jurisdictions.
Athens-Clarke County's 2024 municipal footprint
Athens-Clarke County's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (70% of 3,481 offenses; mix index 5,188).
Violent offenses are 15% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (when validated); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-12.1%
2591.1 → 2276.4/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-7.2%
437.5 → 406.1/100K
Property offenses lead Athens-Clarke County's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs GA
Property Crime
2,954
2276.4
1567.1
Larceny-Theft
2,445
1884.2
-
Burglary
290
223.5
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
219
168.8
-
Arson
17
13.1
-
Violent Crime
527
406.1
299.6
Aggravated Assault
412
317.5
-
Rape
57
43.9
-
Robbery
53
40.8
-
Murder
5
3.9
-
Athens-Clarke County Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Athens-Clarke County 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
Athens-Clarke County Police Department
Reporting agency for Athens-Clarke County NIBRS-participating
Athens-Clarke County Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Athens-Clarke County's 3,481 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 Georgia
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Georgia cities closest to Athens-Clarke County in population. Their populations run from 63,354 to 112,441, against 129,765 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Athens-Clarke County at 406.1/100K violent and 2,276.4/100K property - matched below outside Georgia (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
How many crimes were reported in Athens-Clarke County?
In 2024, Athens-Clarke County reported 527 violent crimes and 2,954 property crimes, for a total of 3,481 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Athens-Clarke County?
From 2023 to 2024, Athens-Clarke County's violent crime rate decreased by 7.2%, and the property crime rate decreased by 12.1%.
What is the most common crime in Athens-Clarke County?
The most common crime type in Athens-Clarke County is larceny-theft, accounting for 70.2% of all reported crimes (2,445 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: Athens-Clarke County's rates come from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, CIUS Table 8, vintage 2024.
Incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. Cross-check population with Census ACS; state UCR programs for statewide context. Primary verify links: FBI.gov UCR, Census QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (large city): informational crime rates only - not legal, insurance, or personal-safety advice. Source: FBI UCR. Ask a qualified professional before acting.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Athens-Clarke County, GA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.