Bluffton, SC carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 66% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Bluffton, SC shows violent crime at 118.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 825.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 66% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A safety grade
118.6/100K violent
825.3/100K property
-66% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Bluffton, SC
Comparable rate records
Bluffton's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the South Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Bluffton's 118.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Lexington (118.3), Mount Pleasant (128.4), Wellford (107.4), Port Royal (129.9). 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
Bluffton reported a lower violent-crime rate than most comparable South Carolina cities
At 118.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Bluffton ranks 125 of 149 — above 24 of the 148 other South Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -71.7% against the cohort median of 418.8. 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 higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 94.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 118.6 in 2024 (+25.7%). The highest observed value was 118.6 in 2024 and the lowest 78.6 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Bluffton'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.
Bluffton's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 52.1 Census sq mi, Bluffton logged 6 property and 0.9 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Bluffton's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (72% of 358 offenses; mix index 5,386).
Violent offenses are only 13% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (52.1 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
+25.4%
94.6 → 118.6/100K
Property Crime Rate
-13.5%
953.7 → 825.3/100K
Property offenses lead Bluffton's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs SC
Property Crime
313
825.3
1988.2
Larceny-Theft
258
680.3
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
29
76.5
-
Burglary
26
68.6
-
Arson
1
2.6
-
Violent Crime
45
118.6
439.3
Aggravated Assault
29
76.5
-
Robbery
8
21.1
-
Rape
6
15.8
-
Murder
2
5.3
-
Bluffton Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Bluffton 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
Bluffton Police Department
Reporting agency for Bluffton NIBRS-participating
Bluffton Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Bluffton's 358 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 Bluffton in population. Their populations run from 29,180 to 42,551, against 37,927 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Bluffton at 118.6/100K violent and 825.3/100K property - matched below outside South Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Bluffton reported 45 violent crimes and 313 property crimes, for a total of 358 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Bluffton?
From 2023 to 2024, Bluffton's violent crime rate increased by 25.4%, and the property crime rate decreased by 13.5%.
What is the most common crime in Bluffton?
The most common crime type in Bluffton is larceny-theft, accounting for 72.1% of all reported crimes (258 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Bluffton 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 Bluffton, SC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.