Morgantown, WV carries a PlainCrime B safety grade with violent crime 40% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Morgantown, WV shows violent crime at 209.8 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,960 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 40% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
B safety grade
209.8/100K violent
1960/100K property
-40% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Morgantown, WV
Comparable rate records
Morgantown's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the West Virginia cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Morgantown's 209.8 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Alderson (214.6), Westover (221.2), St. Albans (224.5), Madison (185.9). 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
Morgantown sits mid-pack among comparable West Virginia cities
At 209.8 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Morgantown ranks 24 of 49 — above 25 of the 48 other West Virginia cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +22.3% against the cohort median of 171.6. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 214.5 per 100,000 in 2020 to 209.8 in 2024 (-2.2%). The highest observed value was 352.8 in 2023 and the lowest 209.8 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Morgantown'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.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Morgantown's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 10.2 Census sq mi, Morgantown logged 58.7 property and 6.3 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Morgantown's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (83% of 662 offenses; mix index 7,022).
Violent offenses are only 10% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (10.2 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
-40.5%
352.8 → 209.8/100K
Property Crime Rate
-11.5%
2215.6 → 1960/100K
Property offenses lead Morgantown's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs WV
Property Crime
598
1960
1089.3
Larceny-Theft
552
1809.2
-
Burglary
35
114.7
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
11
36.1
-
Arson
5
16.4
-
Violent Crime
64
209.8
241.6
Aggravated Assault
36
118
-
Rape
18
59
-
Robbery
6
19.7
-
Murder
4
13.1
-
Morgantown Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Morgantown 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
Morgantown Police Department
Reporting agency for Morgantown NIBRS-participating
Morgantown Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Morgantown's 662 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 West Virginia
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the West Virginia cities closest to Morgantown in population. Their populations run from 15,316 to 46,252, against 30,510 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
Morgantown at 209.8/100K violent and 1,960/100K property - matched below outside West Virginia (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
In 2024, Morgantown reported 64 violent crimes and 598 property crimes, for a total of 662 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Morgantown?
From 2023 to 2024, Morgantown's violent crime rate decreased by 40.5%, and the property crime rate decreased by 11.5%.
What is the most common crime in Morgantown?
The most common crime type in Morgantown is larceny-theft, accounting for 83.4% of all reported crimes (552 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Morgantown figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Morgantown, WV rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.