State crime profile · 2024
West Virginia Crime Rates: Safest & Most Dangerous Cities
Crime data for 49 cities and 32 of 55 counties in West Virginia (WV), ranked safest to most dangerous from 410 reporting agencies.
Data updated 2026-09-05
- 241.6
- Violent / 100K
- 1,089.3
- Property / 100K
- 49
- Cities
- 32
- Counties
West Virginia violent crime is 241.6 per 100,000, 31% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, West Virginia records 241.6 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, 31% below the national average (about the 16th-safest of 51 states and D.C.). Statewide averages hide city and county variation; UCR participation is voluntary.
- 241.6 violent crimes per 100K
- -31% vs. the U.S. average
- 359 Huntington violent-crime reports, volume #1 of 5
- 982.6/100K Wheeling rate #1 (volume #2)
How safe is West Virginia? FBI UCR data snapshot
West Virginia (WV) reported 4,277 violent crimes and 19,280 property crimes in 2024, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program submissions from 410 law enforcement agencies. That translates to a statewide violent crime rate of 241.6 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1089.3 per 100,000 against a reporting population of 1,769,979. The PlainCrime dataset indexes 49 West Virginia cities and 32 counties, each with their own detail pages and local crime figures drawn from FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10.
The FBI's state-level summary reports violent and property crime as aggregate totals rather than broken out by individual offense type (murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson). For an offense-by-offense breakdown, see the individual city and county pages for West Virginia below, which draw on FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10 and do report each offense type separately.
Across 11 years of state-level UCR history (2014–2024), the violent crime rate moved from 259.2 to 241.6 per 100,000, a decline of 6.8%. City-level detail pages within West Virginia include safety grades (A+ to F), benchmarks against national averages, per-capita risk estimates, and multi-year trend tables for users comparing specific jurisdictions. All figures above are drawn from FBI UCR 2024 submissions; reporting completeness varies by agency, and the FBI periodically restates prior-year figures as late submissions arrive.
How West Virginia ranks nationally
West Virginia vs. every U.S. state
Violent crime per 100,000 residents, FBI UCR 2024. Lower is safer.
242 Safer than 69% among 51 U.S. states
Each bar is a band of values; taller bars hold more U.S. states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · 2024
Safest cities · Most dangerous cities · Crime trends
Crime Trends
| Year | Population | Violent Crime | Rate | Property Crime | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1,769,979 | 4,277 | 241.6 | 19,280 | 1089.3 |
| 2023 | 1,770,071 | 4,525 | 255.6 | 19,877 | 1122.9 |
| 2022 | 1,775,156 | 4,692 | 264.3 | 21,059 | 1186.3 |
| 2021 | 1,782,959 | 4,690 | 263 | 21,306 | 1195 |
| 2020 | 1,784,787 | 5,159 | 289.1 | 22,745 | 1274.4 |
| 2019 | 1,792,147 | 4,708 | 262.7 | 21,903 | 1222.2 |
| 2018 | 1,805,832 | 4,768 | 264 | 23,303 | 1290.4 |
| 2017 | 1,815,857 | 5,989 | 329.8 | 29,829 | 1642.7 |
| 2016 | 1,831,102 | 5,938 | 324.3 | 32,791 | 1790.8 |
| 2015 | 1,844,128 | 5,298 | 287.3 | 30,725 | 1666.1 |
| 2014 | 1,850,326 | 4,796 | 259.2 | 30,409 | 1643.4 |
Cities in West Virginia
Safest cities in West Virginia
Cities with 25,000+ residents, lowest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Morgantown 210
Morgantown
210 /100K
- Parkersburg 260
Parkersburg
260 /100K
- Charleston
Charleston
543 /100K
- Huntington
Huntington
800 /100K
- Wheeling
Wheeling
983 /100K
What this shows Morgantown is the safest sizeable city in West Virginia, at 209.8 violent crimes per 100,000.
Highest violent-crime cities in West Virginia
Cities with 25,000+ residents, highest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Wheeling
Wheeling
983 /100K
- Huntington
Huntington
800 /100K
- Charleston
Charleston
543 /100K
- Parkersburg 260
Parkersburg
260 /100K
- Morgantown 210
Morgantown
210 /100K
What this shows Wheeling reports the highest big-city violent-crime rate in West Virginia, at 982.6 per 100,000.
Huntington recorded 359 violent-crime reports (#1 of 5) at 800.3 per 100,000 (rate #2). Wheeling recorded 255 (#2) at 982.6 per 100,000 (#1). These are FBI UCR 2024 agency submissions, not a personal risk forecast.
Volume #1 is not rate #1 among West Virginia cities
Violent-crime rate per 100,000 for the count leader and the rate leader among cities with 25,000+ residents, FBI UCR 2024. Each tooltip identifies the relevant rate or volume rank; chart row is not a state rank.
- Wheeling
Wheeling
983 /100K
- Huntington
Huntington
800 /100K
What this shows Huntington recorded 359 violent-crime reports (#1 of 5) at 800.3 per 100,000 (rate #2). Wheeling recorded 255 (#2) at 982.6 per 100,000 (#1). These are FBI UCR 2024 agency submissions, not a personal risk forecast.
| City | Population | Violent / 100K | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charleston | 46,252 | 542.7 | F |
| Huntington | 44,860 | 800.3 | F |
| Morgantown | 30,510 | 209.8 | B |
| Parkersburg | 28,815 | 260.3 | C |
| Wheeling | 25,951 | 982.6 | F |
| Weirton | 18,151 | 137.7 | A |
| Fairmont | 18,066 | 520.3 | D |
| Beckley | 16,367 | 604.9 | F |
| Clarksburg | 15,316 | 372.2 | C |
| South Charleston | 13,098 | 488.6 | F |
| Vienna | 10,397 | 153.9 | C |
| St. Albans | 10,245 | 224.5 | C |
| Bridgeport | 9,396 | 138.4 | B |
| Bluefield | 9,163 | 480.2 | C |
| Charles Town | 8,103 | 74 | A |
| Oak Hill | 7,747 | 154.9 | B |
| Dunbar | 7,070 | 311.2 | C |
| Hurricane | 6,755 | 59.2 | A |
| Elkins | 6,700 | 477.6 | C |
| Nitro | 6,360 | 157.2 | C |
| Ranson | 5,781 | 69.2 | A |
| New Martinsville | 5,049 | 59.4 | A+ |
| Buckhannon | 5,014 | 319.1 | C |
| Keyser | 4,839 | 248 | B |
| Grafton | 4,545 | 0 | A+ |
| Barboursville | 4,327 | 46.2 | B |
| Westover | 4,068 | 221.2 | C |
| Weston | 3,722 | 241.8 | B |
| Summersville | 3,318 | 271.2 | B |
| Ripley | 3,035 | 98.8 | A |
| Williamstown | 2,943 | 0 | A+ |
| Philippi | 2,897 | 138.1 | A |
| Kenova | 2,855 | 0 | A+ |
| Fayetteville | 2,771 | 36.1 | B |
| Madison | 2,690 | 185.9 | A |
| Follansbee | 2,645 | 0 | A+ |
| Moorefield | 2,480 | 766.1 | F |
| Winfield | 2,360 | 42.4 | A+ |
| White Sulphur Springs | 2,177 | 91.9 | A |
| Spencer | 1,966 | 50.9 | A |
| Romney | 1,749 | 628.9 | D |
| Ronceverte | 1,518 | 0 | A+ |
| Glen Dale | 1,404 | 71.2 | A |
| Ceredo | 1,321 | 0 | A+ |
| Montgomery | 1,209 | 827.1 | F |
| Alderson | 932 | 214.6 | B |
| White Hall | 703 | 284.5 | C |
| Cedar Grove | 682 | 0 | A+ |
| Gilbert | 305 | 327.9 | B |
Counties in West Virginia
32 of 55 Census county-equivalents (58.2%) appear in FBI Table 10 for this vintage. Missing counties are absent from the FBI source for this year, not dropped by PlainCrime. See national county coverage and methodology.
Largest counties in West Virginia, violent crime per 100K
Top 8 counties by population, violent crime per 100,000 residents. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Kanawha
Kanawha
151 /100K
- Berkeley
Berkeley
92 /100K
- Monongalia 44
Monongalia
44 /100K
- Cabell 55
Cabell
55 /100K
- Wood 63
Wood
63 /100K
- Raleigh
Raleigh
170 /100K
- Harrison 53
Harrison
53 /100K
- Mercer
Mercer
132 /100K
Nationwide peers for West Virginia
Similar violent rate (~241.6/100K)
- Iowa · 238.5/100K violent
- Idaho · 234.7/100K violent
- Pennsylvania · 249.5/100K violent
- Hawaii · 230.5/100K violent
Similar property rate (~1,089.3/100K)
- Massachusetts · 1101.2/100K property
- Rhode Island · 1040.1/100K property
- Florida · 1030/100K property
- Maine · 1149/100K property
Nearby States
Safest cities · Most dangerous · Trends · National rankings · Crime grades · Compare · Methodology
Primary source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States annual release. State-level trends cross-check against the FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API.
Population figures for rate calculations reference U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI-reported populations are unavailable. Verify with Census.gov QuickFacts.
Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Put this to use
Put the West Virginia FBI UCR state file to work: open a city, a county, or a national ranking built from the same vintage.
A statewide average hides city and county variation: open a local profile before treating the state figure as a place-level verdict.
Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.