Lancaster, SC carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 202% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Lancaster, SC shows violent crime at 1,063.9 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 6,179.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 202% 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
1063.9/100K violent
6179.5/100K property
+202% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Lancaster, SC
Comparable rate records
Lancaster's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the South Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Lancaster's 1063.9 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Clio (1043.5), Manning (1031.2), Sumter (1097.5), Myrtle Beach (1111.6). 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
Lancaster reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable South Carolina cities
At 1063.9 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Lancaster ranks 24 of 149 — above 125 of the 148 other South Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +156.6% 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 Lancaster'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.
Lancaster's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 7.2 Census sq mi, Lancaster logged 79.9 property and 13.7 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Lancaster's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (72% of 674 offenses; mix index 5,435).
Violent offenses are only 15% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (7.2 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
+40.8%
755.8 → 1063.9/100K
Property Crime Rate
+4.3%
5924.2 → 6179.5/100K
Property offenses lead Lancaster's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs SC
Property Crime
575
6179.5
1711
1988.2
Larceny-Theft
485
5212.3
-
-
Burglary
65
698.5
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
25
268.7
-
-
Arson
0
0
-
-
Violent Crime
99
1063.9
352
439.3
Aggravated Assault
82
881.2
-
-
Rape
7
75.2
-
-
Robbery
6
64.5
-
-
Murder
4
43
-
-
Lancaster Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Lancaster 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
Lancaster Police Department
Reporting agency for Lancaster NIBRS-participating
Lancaster Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Lancaster's 674 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 Lancaster in population. Their populations run from 7,795 to 10,309, against 9,305 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Lancaster reported 99 violent crimes and 575 property crimes, for a total of 674 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Lancaster?
From 2023 to 2024, Lancaster's violent crime rate increased by 40.8%, and the property crime rate increased by 4.3%.
What is the most common crime in Lancaster?
The most common crime type in Lancaster is larceny-theft, accounting for 72.0% of all reported crimes (485 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Lancaster 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 Lancaster, SC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.