Living › Safest Places
There is no official list of South Carolina's safest places: the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) publishes reported crime for every police agency and asks readers not to rank agencies on it. Here are SLED's 2024 counts for 33 city police departments, A to Z, with violent offenses per 1,000 residents from 1.4 to 14.9 where the row is complete. The counts are SLED's; the rates are our arithmetic (SLED count divided by the Census population of the city), and a police agency's area can differ from city limits. Reported crime is not the same as risk on a given street.
- Places33in the table
- Violent Offenses 2024335middle place
- Violent Crime Rate5.8middle place
- CheckedOct 262026
The Short Answer
- SLED's 2024 Crime in South Carolina report says the state's violent crime rate decreased by 8.4% from 2023 to 2024, the fourth consecutive yearly decrease and the lowest rate since 1995. source
- Statewide 2024 index offense counts in SLED's table: murder 413, aggravated assault 19,710, arson 597, breaking and entering 15,087, robbery 1,949, motor vehicle theft 12,180, larceny 82,736, sexual battery 2,092 (2023: 481; 21,107; 695; 17,027; 2,165; 14,395; 90,843; 2,114). source
- SLED calculates crime rates per 10,000 people and publishes rates at the county and state level, using county population; the agency-level table is raw counts only. source
- SLED states its agency and county tables are "not intended and should not be used to rank counties or agencies by crime level," and that population and factors such as education, poverty, employment, history, culture and age distribution should be considered. source
Safest Places to Live in South Carolina: The Figures
| Place | Population | Violent offenses 2024 | Violent crime rate (computed) | Property offenses 2024 | Property crime rate (computed) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aiken Municipal police department, Aiken County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 32,521 | 190 | 5.8 | 1,332 | 41 | source |
| Anderson Municipal police department, Anderson County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 30,051 | 173 | 5.8 | 1,753 | 58.3 | source |
| Beaufort Municipal police department, Beaufort County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 13,747 | 98 | 7.1 | 508 | 37 | source |
| Bluffton Municipal police department, Beaufort County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 33,157 | 46 | 1.4 | 319 | 9.6 | source |
| Cayce Municipal police department, Lexington County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 279 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Charleston Municipal police department, Charleston County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 154,338 | 572 | 3.7 | 3,267 | 21.2 | source |
| Clemson Municipal police department, Pickens County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 284 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Columbia Municipal police department, Richland County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 139,643 | 1,130 | 8.1 | 5,149 | 36.9 | source |
| Conway Municipal police department, Horry County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 27,263 | 132 | 4.8 | 580 | 21.3 | source |
| Easley Municipal police department, Pickens County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 24,841 | 68 | 2.7 | 519 | 20.9 | source |
| Florence Municipal police department, Florence County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 40,408 | 335 | 8.3 | 1,643 | 40.7 | source |
| Folly Beach Municipal police department, Charleston County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 266 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Fort Mill Municipal police department, York County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 289 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Goose Creek Municipal police department, Berkeley County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 48,078 | 133 | 2.8 | 718 | 14.9 | source |
| Greenville Municipal police department, Greenville County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 72,935 | 484 | 6.6 | 2,608 | 35.8 | source |
| Greer Municipal police department, Greenville County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 41,536 | 166 | 4 | 842 | 20.3 | source |
| Hanahan Municipal police department, Berkeley County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 265 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Irmo Municipal police department, Lexington County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 279 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Isle of Palms Municipal police department, Charleston County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 266 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Lancaster Municipal police department, Lancaster County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 278 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Lexington Municipal police department, Lexington County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 280 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Mauldin Municipal police department, Greenville County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 274 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Mount Pleasant Municipal police department, Charleston County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 266 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Myrtle Beach Municipal police department, Horry County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 38,371 | 461 | 12 | 2,356 | 61.4 | source |
| North Augusta Municipal police department, Aiken County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 261 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| North Charleston Municipal police department, Charleston County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 119,913 | 1,008 | 8.4 | 4,933 | 41.1 | source |
| Port Royal Municipal police department, Beaufort County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 264 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Rock Hill Municipal police department, York County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 75,259 | 343 | 4.6 | 1,837 | 24.4 | source |
| Simpsonville Municipal police department, Greenville County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 274 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
| Spartanburg Municipal police department, Spartanburg County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 38,910 | 580 | 14.9 | 2,100 | 54 | source |
| Summerville Municipal police department, Dorchester County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 51,654 | 116 | 2.2 | 953 | 18.4 | source |
| Sumter Municipal police department, Sumter County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) | 43,053 | 468 | 10.9 | 1,598 | 37.1 | source |
| Tega Cay Municipal police department, York County (county section the agency is listed under in the SLED table) Some 2024 cells are blank in SLED's table; read the row on page 289 of the report. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | source |
No rows match.
Violent = murder, aggravated assault, robbery and sexual battery; property = arson, breaking and entering, motor vehicle theft and larceny: our sums of SLED’s 2024 columns (four rows checked against the report by hand). Rates per 1,000 residents are computed by us from those sums and the Census population. Figures exactly as the agency publishes them; ± is the Census margin of error at 90% confidence. Sorting is by the figure, not a judgement.
About The SLED Numbers
- Crime in South Carolina is based on incident and arrest reports submitted monthly by state and local law enforcement agencies to SLED through the South Carolina Incident-Based Reporting System (SCIBRS); unreported crimes are not included. source
- The eight index offenses are murder, sexual battery, robbery and aggravated assault (violent crime) and breaking and entering, motor vehicle theft, larceny and arson (property crime). source
- The 2024 agency table shows 2023 and 2024 counts for each county and each law enforcement agency in it; agencies not fully compliant with SCIBRS for 2024 are shown in grey text. source
- SLED's report says 242 of 279 active law enforcement agencies reported SCIBRS data for all 12 months of 2024 (compliant) and 37 were missing one to all 2024 submissions. A separate figure in the report, 204 of 288 agencies (71%), is for the Use of Force data collection, not SCIBRS crime reporting. source
- SLED's TOPS site (beyond2020.sled.sc.gov/tops/) offers searchable crime data by jurisdiction, year and category. source
Statewide 2024 Changes
- 2023 to 2024 rate changes reported by SLED: murder rate down 15.8%, sexual battery rate down 2.9%, robbery rate down 11.7%, aggravated assault rate down 8.4%, property crime down 11.8%, breaking and entering rate down 13.1%, motor vehicle theft rate down 17%, larceny rate down 10.7%, arson rate down 15.8%. source
- SLED's release says murders fell from 481 to 413 and aggravated assaults from 21,107 to 19,710, and that sexual battery, robbery and burglary reached 30-year lows. source
FAQ
Does SLED publish a crime rate for each city?
No. SLED's report gives raw counts for each agency and calculates rates per 10,000 people only for counties and the state. source
Can these numbers be used to rank cities?
SLED says the agency and county tables should not be used to rank counties or agencies by crime level, and that population and other factors should be considered. source
What We Could Not Confirm
Not confirmed: we looked for these on official pages and did not find them. Check with the town or operator before you rely on them.
- Per-agency counts were read from SLED's PDF table by column position. We checked the Aiken, Columbia, Greenville and Spartanburg police rows against the report by hand (October 26, 2026) and they match; rows where SLED leaves a cell blank show no totals or rates here, because the column of each printed number cannot be told for sure.
- Grey-text (not fully compliant) status was detected from the PDF text fill color (grey 0.65 vs dark blue). Among the listed agencies only Summerville PD is grey.
- North Augusta PD 2024 counts are much lower than 2023 (larceny 101 vs 379) though the row is not grey; reason not stated in the report.
- Hilton Head Island, Socastee and Indian Land have no municipal police department in the SLED table (served by sheriff/county police), so no city row exists; county sheriff rows were not used because they cover wider areas.
- Per-agency crime rates were not computed: SLED does not publish them and SLED population figures per agency are not in the report. The ACS place population is given only as context.
- The task said rates "per 1,000 or 100,000 as SLED publishes": SLED uses per 10,000 and only for counties and the state.
- The FBI was not used (state agency only, per task).
- Statewide 2024 violent and property crime rate values (per 10,000) are in charts on pages 36 and 62 of the PDF that did not extract as text; only the percent changes are given.
- SLED's Dec. 5, 2025 news release (as read) gives 204 of 288 agencies (71%) reporting all 12 months; inside the report that 204/288 figure is labeled as Use of Force reporting, while SCIBRS compliance is 242 of 279. Use the 242 of 279 figure for crime data.
Sources
- SLED 2024 Crime in South Carolina (PDF)
- SLED Crime Books page
- SLED news release, Dec. 5, 2025: 2024 Crime in South Carolina annual report
- ACS 2020-2024 5-year table B01003 (context population)
Read on October 26, 2026. How we check: editorial standards; spot a mistake? Tell us.
Cite this page: It's South Carolina, “Safest Places to Live in South Carolina”, itssouthcarolina.com/living/safest-places-to-live-in-south-carolina/ (updated ). By the It's South Carolina editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.