Charleston, SC has a C safety grade (47/100) with a violent crime rate of 358 per 100,000, 2% above the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 Per-capita rates FBI UCR + NIBRS
Charleston, SC Crime Rate & Safety
Compiled by PlainCrime, Independent crime-data publisher
At 156,898 residents, Charleston is a large city: FBI UCR Table 8 rates (per 100,000) here are read against SC and U.S. averages before the offense-family breakdown.
Charleston, SC carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 2% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Charleston, SC shows violent crime at 357.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,021.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 2% 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
357.6/100K violent
2021.7/100K property
+2% vs U.S.
The verdict
Charleston earns a C safety grade: violent crime runs 2% above the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
C
PlainCrime safety grade
+2%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
24th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
2,021.7
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Charleston, SC
Comparable rate records
Charleston's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the South Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Charleston's 357.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Cowpens (356.0), Inman (359.9), North Myrtle Beach (360.8), Gaston (366.1). 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 470.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 357.6 in 2024 (-23.9%). The highest observed value was 470.0 in 2020 and the lowest 357.6 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Charleston sits mid-pack among comparable South Carolina cities
At 357.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Charleston ranks 84 of 149 — above 65 of the 148 other South Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -14.6% 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.
Property counts dominate Charleston'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.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-11.8%
405.4 → 357.6/100K
Property Crime Rate
+1.5%
1992.1 → 2021.7/100K
Property offenses lead Charleston's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
3,172
2021.7
1711
Larceny-Theft
2,599
1656.5
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
354
225.6
-
Burglary
219
139.6
-
Arson
16
10.2
-
Violent Crime
561
357.6
352
Aggravated Assault
443
282.3
-
Robbery
67
42.7
-
Rape
44
28
-
Murder
7
4.5
-
Charleston Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Charleston property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
2,021.7/100K↑1.5%vs 2023
Charleston violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
357.6/100K↓11.8%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
139,582
470
2329.1
3,907
2021
Comparable
141,768
438.7
2255.1
3,819
2022
Comparable
152,324
374.9
1897.3
3,461
2023
Comparable
155,159
405.4
1992.1
3,720
2024
Comparable
156,898
357.6
2021.7
3,733
How Charleston sits among SC peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Charleston Police Department NIBRS-participating
Charleston's crime figures on this page originate from Charleston Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
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 Charleston in population. Their populations run from 47,690 to 144,559, against 156,898 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These South Carolina cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Charleston's 357.6/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Charleston has a violent crime rate of 357.6 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2021.7 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Charleston, SC safe? ▼
Charleston receives a safety grade of C (Average), with a safety score of 47/100. The violent crime rate is 2% above the national average and 19% below the South Carolina average.
What is the population of Charleston, SC? ▼
The reporting population for Charleston is 156,898 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Charleston? ▼
In 2024, Charleston reported 561 violent crimes and 3,172 property crimes, for a total of 3,733 reported offenses.
How do Charleston's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Charleston recorded about one reported offense per 42 residents and one reported violent offense per 280 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Charleston? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Charleston's violent crime rate decreased by 11.8%, and the property crime rate increased by 1.5%.
What is the most common crime in Charleston? ▼
The most common crime type in Charleston is larceny-theft, accounting for 69.6% of all reported crimes (2,599 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: Charleston'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 Charleston, SC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.