Walterboro, SC is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns an F PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 186% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Walterboro, SC shows violent crime at 1,006.4 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 5,379.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 186% 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
1006.4/100K violent
5379.7/100K property
+186% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Walterboro, SC
Comparable rate records
Walterboro's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the South Carolina cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Walterboro's 1006.4 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Bennettsville (995.3), Manning (1031.2), Union (975.0), Clio (1043.5). 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
Walterboro reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable South Carolina cities
At 1006.4 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Walterboro ranks 27 of 149 — above 122 of the 148 other South Carolina cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +142.7% 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 705.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 1006.4 in 2024 (+42.7%). The highest observed value was 1525.5 in 2023 and the lowest 705.4 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Walterboro'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.
Walterboro's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 7 Census sq mi, Walterboro logged 42.2 property and 7.9 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Walterboro's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (72% of 349 offenses; mix index 5,504).
Violent offenses are 16% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (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
-34%
1525.5 → 1006.4/100K
Property Crime Rate
-24.6%
7131 → 5379.7/100K
Property offenses lead Walterboro's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
vs SC
Property Crime
294
5379.7
1711
1988.2
Larceny-Theft
253
4629.5
-
-
Burglary
24
439.2
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
17
311.1
-
-
Arson
3
54.9
-
-
Violent Crime
55
1006.4
352
439.3
Aggravated Assault
46
841.7
-
-
Robbery
6
109.8
-
-
Murder
2
36.6
-
-
Rape
1
18.3
-
-
Walterboro Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Walterboro 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
Walterboro Police Department
Reporting agency for Walterboro NIBRS-participating
Walterboro Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Walterboro's 349 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 Walterboro in population. Their populations run from 4,863 to 6,123, against 5,465 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Walterboro reported 55 violent crimes and 294 property crimes, for a total of 349 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Walterboro?
From 2023 to 2024, Walterboro's violent crime rate decreased by 34%, and the property crime rate decreased by 24.6%.
What is the most common crime in Walterboro?
The most common crime type in Walterboro is larceny-theft, accounting for 72.5% of all reported crimes (253 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Walterboro 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 Walterboro, SC rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.