Darlington, SC is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns an F PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 221% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Darlington, SC shows violent crime at 1,130.9 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 5,887.2 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 221% 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
1130.9/100K violent
5887.2/100K property
+221% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Darlington, SC
Position in the state cohort
Darlington reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable South Carolina cities
At 1130.9 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Darlington ranks 21 of 149 — above 128 of the 148 other South Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +172.7% 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.
Comparable rate records
Darlington's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the South Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Darlington's 1130.9 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Myrtle Beach (1111.6), Cheraw (1163.7), Sumter (1097.5), Kingstree (1191.7). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 1577.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 1130.9 in 2024 (-28.3%). The highest observed value was 1577.6 in 2020 and the lowest 1130.9 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Darlington'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.
Small-city offense counts above are voluntary UCR submissions, not neighbourhood advice. Year-to-year swings can look large when the population base is modest.
Darlington's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 4.7 Census sq mi, Darlington logged 75.1 property and 14.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Darlington's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (63% of 422 offenses; mix index 4,359).
Violent offenses are 16% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (4.7 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
-26.7%
1542.3 → 1130.9/100K
Property Crime Rate
+6%
5555.6 → 5887.2/100K
Property offenses lead Darlington's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs SC
Property Crime
354
5887.2
1711
1988.2
Larceny-Theft
264
4390.5
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
53
881.4
-
-
Burglary
37
615.3
-
-
Arson
2
33.3
-
-
Violent Crime
68
1130.9
352
439.3
Aggravated Assault
61
1014.5
-
-
Robbery
5
83.2
-
-
Murder
1
16.6
-
-
Rape
1
16.6
-
-
Darlington Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Darlington 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
Darlington Police Department
Reporting agency for Darlington NIBRS-participating
Darlington Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Darlington's 422 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 Darlington in population. Their populations run from 5,212 to 6,430, against 6,013 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Darlington reported 68 violent crimes and 354 property crimes, for a total of 422 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Darlington?
From 2023 to 2024, Darlington's violent crime rate decreased by 26.7%, and the property crime rate increased by 6%.
What is the most common crime in Darlington?
The most common crime type in Darlington is larceny-theft, accounting for 62.6% of all reported crimes (264 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Darlington is sourced from FBI UCR Table 8 for 2024; rates use that row's population.
Small-city rows use the same per-100,000 formula; a few unreported years can leave gaps in the trend table. Verify the agency's submission on FBI.gov UCR.
Disclaimer (small city): UCR counts here are informational only. They are not a victimization probability. Source: FBI UCR Program.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Darlington, SC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.