Columbia, SC has a F safety grade (2/100) with a violent crime rate of 770 per 100,000, 119% above the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · large city
Columbia, SC Crime Rate & Safety
At 144,559 residents, Columbia 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.
Columbia, SC carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 119% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Columbia, SC shows violent crime at 769.9 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,232.6 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 119% 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
769.9/100K violent
3232.6/100K property
+119% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Columbia, SC
Comparable rate records
Columbia's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the South Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Columbia's 769.9 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are West Union (771.2), Batesburg-Leesville (772.3), Pamplico (760.5), West Columbia (747.7). 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
Columbia sits mid-pack among comparable South Carolina cities
At 769.9 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Columbia ranks 45 of 149 — above 104 of the 148 other South Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +85.7% 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.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 19.2% of the 5,786 Part I offenses reported in Columbia for 2024, against a median of 14.9% across comparable South Carolina cities — a gap of 4.3 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window close to where it started
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 759.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 769.9 in 2024 (+1.4%). The highest observed value was 769.9 in 2024 and the lowest 599.6 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Columbia'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.
Columbia's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 138.5 Census sq mi, Columbia logged 33.7 property and 8 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Columbia leans on larceny-theft at 59% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,938.
Violent offenses are 19% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (138.5 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-7.7%
3501.8 → 3232.6/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+0.3%
767.5 → 769.9/100K
Property offenses lead Columbia's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs SC
Property Crime
4,673
3232.6
1711
1988.2
Larceny-Theft
3,407
2356.8
-
-
Burglary
718
496.7
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
548
379.1
-
-
Arson
28
19.4
-
-
Violent Crime
1,113
769.9
352
439.3
Aggravated Assault
853
590.1
-
-
Robbery
157
108.6
-
-
Rape
89
61.6
-
-
Murder
14
9.7
-
-
Columbia Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Columbia 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
Columbia Police Department
Reporting agency for Columbia NIBRS-participating
Columbia Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Columbia's 5,786 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 Columbia in population. Their populations run from 47,690 to 156,898, against 144,559 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Columbia at 769.9/100K violent and 3,232.6/100K property - matched below outside South Carolina (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Columbia reported 1,113 violent crimes and 4,673 property crimes, for a total of 5,786 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Columbia?
From 2023 to 2024, Columbia's violent crime rate increased by 0.3%, and the property crime rate decreased by 7.7%.
What is the most common crime in Columbia?
The most common crime type in Columbia is larceny-theft, accounting for 58.9% of all reported crimes (3,407 incidents in 2024).
Large-city read: Columbia'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 Columbia, SC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.