Beaufort, SC is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns an F PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 98% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Beaufort, SC shows violent crime at 696 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,573.2 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 98% 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
696/100K violent
3573.2/100K property
+98% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Beaufort, SC
Comparable rate records
Beaufort's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the South Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Beaufort's 696.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Honea Path (692.0), Ehrhardt (684.9), Andrews (710.9), Williamston (678.4). 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 higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 486.7 per 100,000 in 2020 to 696.0 in 2024 (+43.0%). The highest observed value was 696.0 in 2024 and the lowest 330.7 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Beaufort sits mid-pack among comparable South Carolina cities
At 696.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Beaufort ranks 51 of 149 — above 98 of the 148 other South Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +67.9% 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 Beaufort'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.
Beaufort's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 24.5 Census sq mi, Beaufort logged 20.3 property and 4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Beaufort's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (72% of 595 offenses; mix index 5,434).
Violent offenses are 16% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (24.5 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
+39.1%
500.5 → 696/100K
Property Crime Rate
-4.5%
3742.9 → 3573.2/100K
Property offenses lead Beaufort's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs SC
Property Crime
498
3573.2
1711
1988.2
Larceny-Theft
429
3078.1
-
-
Burglary
45
322.9
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
24
172.2
-
-
Arson
1
7.2
-
-
Violent Crime
97
696
352
439.3
Aggravated Assault
74
531
-
-
Robbery
15
107.6
-
-
Rape
7
50.2
-
-
Murder
1
7.2
-
-
Beaufort Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Beaufort property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Beaufort Police Department
Reporting agency for Beaufort NIBRS-participating
Beaufort Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Beaufort's 595 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 Beaufort in population. Their populations run from 12,178 to 16,931, against 13,937 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Beaufort at 696/100K violent and 3,573.2/100K property - matched below outside South Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Beaufort reported 97 violent crimes and 498 property crimes, for a total of 595 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Beaufort?
From 2023 to 2024, Beaufort's violent crime rate increased by 39.1%, and the property crime rate decreased by 4.5%.
What is the most common crime in Beaufort?
The most common crime type in Beaufort is larceny-theft, accounting for 72.1% of all reported crimes (429 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Beaufort 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.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Beaufort, SC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.