South Charleston, WV carries a PlainCrime F safety grade with violent crime 39% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, South Charleston, WV shows violent crime at 488.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 5,519.9 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 39% 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
488.6/100K violent
5519.9/100K property
+39% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for South Charleston, WV
Comparable rate records
South Charleston's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the West Virginia cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to South Charleston's 488.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Bluefield (480.2), Elkins (477.6), Fairmont (520.3), Charleston (542.7). 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
South Charleston reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable West Virginia cities
At 488.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, South Charleston ranks 9 of 49 — above 40 of the 48 other West Virginia cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +184.8% 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 higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 437.0 per 100,000 in 2020 to 488.6 in 2024 (+11.8%). The highest observed value was 631.8 in 2022 and the lowest 437.0 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate South Charleston'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.
South Charleston's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 9.8 Census sq mi, South Charleston logged 74.1 property and 6.6 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
South Charleston's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (84% of 787 offenses; mix index 7,182).
Violent offenses are only 8% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (9.8 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
+17.1%
4711.9 → 5519.9/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-14.5%
571.6 → 488.6/100K
Property offenses lead South Charleston's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs WV
vs US avg
Property Crime
723
5519.9
1089.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
663
5061.8
-
-
Burglary
37
282.5
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
23
175.6
-
-
Arson
1
7.6
-
-
Violent Crime
64
488.6
241.6
352
Aggravated Assault
58
442.8
-
-
Rape
3
22.9
-
-
Robbery
3
22.9
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
South Charleston Crime Trend (2020-2024)
South Charleston 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
South Charleston Police Department
Reporting agency for South Charleston NIBRS-participating
South Charleston Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind South Charleston's 787 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 South Charleston in population. Their populations run from 8,103 to 18,066, against 13,098 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
South Charleston at 488.6/100K violent and 5,519.9/100K property - matched below outside West Virginia (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
How many crimes were reported in South Charleston?
In 2024, South Charleston reported 64 violent crimes and 723 property crimes, for a total of 787 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in South Charleston?
From 2023 to 2024, South Charleston's violent crime rate decreased by 14.5%, and the property crime rate increased by 17.1%.
What is the most common crime in South Charleston?
The most common crime type in South Charleston is larceny-theft, accounting for 84.2% of all reported crimes (663 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: South Charleston 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 South Charleston, WV rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.