Morgantown, KY is higher-crime than most U.S. cities, and earns an A PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 31% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Morgantown, KY shows violent crime at 243.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 40.5 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 31% 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
243.2/100K violent
40.5/100K property
-31% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Morgantown, KY
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 85.7% of the 7 Part I offenses reported in Morgantown for 2024, against a median of 8.0% across comparable Kentucky cities — a gap of 77.7 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 higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 41.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 243.2 in 2024 (+490.8%). The highest observed value was 325.3 in 2022 and the lowest 41.2 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Morgantown reported 6 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 2,467. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 0.0% of reported property offenses in Morgantown, against a cohort median of 72.3%. The remainder is burglary (1) and motor vehicle theft (0). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Position in the state cohort
Morgantown reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Kentucky cities
At 243.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Morgantown ranks 17 of 231 — above 214 of the 230 other Kentucky cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +266.3% against the cohort median of 66.4. 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
Morgantown's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Kentucky cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Morgantown's 243.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Dayton (240.0), Smiths Grove (247.5), Florence (231.9), Albany (231.3). 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.
Violent counts are the sharper signal on Morgantown's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; incomplete reporters stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Based on 6 reported violent incidents in a population of 2,467. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
On a small municipal row, small denominators make rates sensitive to a handful of incidents. Figures are reported totals, not neighbourhood advice.
Morgantown's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 3.3 Census sq mi, Morgantown logged 0.3 property and 1.8 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Morgantown leans on rape at 43% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,061.
Violent offenses are 86% of the municipal total - a violence-heavy book for a small municipal.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (3.3 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
+198.4%
81.5 → 243.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
-80.1%
203.7 → 40.5/100K
Violent offenses lead Morgantown's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Violent Crime
6
243.2
352
Rape
3
121.6
-
Aggravated Assault
2
81.1
-
Murder
1
40.5
-
Robbery
0
0
-
Property Crime
1
40.5
1711
Burglary
1
40.5
-
Larceny-Theft
0
0
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
0
0
-
Arson
0
0
-
Morgantown Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Morgantown violent crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
243.2/100K↑198.4%vs 2023
Morgantown property crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
40.5/100K↓80.1%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
2,429
41.2
494
13
2021
Comparable
2,366
84.5
507.2
14
2022
Comparable
2,459
325.3
447.3
19
2023
Comparable
2,454
81.5
203.7
7
2024
Comparable
2,467
243.2
40.5
7
Morgantown Police Department
Reporting agency for Morgantown NIBRS-participating
Morgantown Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Morgantown's 7 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 Kentucky
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Kentucky cities closest to Morgantown in population. Their populations run from 2,294 to 2,563, against 2,467 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Morgantown reported 6 violent crimes and 1 property crimes, for a total of 7 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Morgantown?
From 2023 to 2024, Morgantown's violent crime rate increased by 198.4%, and the property crime rate decreased by 80.1%.
What is the most common crime in Morgantown?
The most common crime type in Morgantown is rape, accounting for 42.9% of all reported crimes (3 incidents in 2024).
Micro-municipal read: Morgantown's FBI UCR Table 8 row (2024) is the only source for the rates above.
With a small population base, per-100,000 rates amplify sparse counts. Incomplete submissions are excluded from rankings. See FBI.gov UCR for the raw Table 8 file.
Disclaimer (small municipal): small-base rates are especially easy to misread. Informational only - not advice. Source: FBI UCR Program.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Morgantown, KY rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.