Photo: change-of-venue from Greenville, South Carolina, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Greenwood records more crime than nine in ten U.S. towns
In a usual year, 5.5 violent crimes and 35.0 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of South Carolina, 5.2 and 27.2. From 2023 to 2025, crimes Greenwood’s police reported put it at D for safety: #54 of 87 graded towns in South Carolina. Per resident, the graded crimes were down 20% from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of SC” is every other South Carolina city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Greenwood
Among South Carolina towns, closer to the middle
South Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Greenwood’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 38% of the 87 South Carolina towns we grade, against 7% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Greenwood is home to Lander University, with 3,568 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 13% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Greenwood has 15,090 jobs based in town for 22,745 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Greenwood’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Greenwood property | Rest of South Carolina property | Greenwood violent | Rest of South Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 40.6 | 31.0 | 8.2 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 39.7 | 30.3 | 6.7 | 5.6 |
| 2024 | 33.2 | 27.7 | 4.8 | 5.4 |
| 2025 | 32.1 | 23.6 | 5.0 | 4.5 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of South Carolina.
Crime in Greenwood per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 5 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Greenwood | Rest of South Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.2 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 6.7 | 5.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.8 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.0 | 4.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Greenwood’s police reported 374 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 5.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.2 in the rest of South Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
843 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
114 violent and 729 property, as reported to the FBI by Greenwood’s police.
Eight people died in crashes on Greenwood’s roads in 2019–2023
Greenwood had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 1 was a cyclist.
That is about what is typical for South Carolina towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (8.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Greenwood’s size would see about 10 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Greenwood’s own rate (7.1) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Greenwood and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwood | D | 5.5 | 35.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
South Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwood | D | 5.5 | 35.0 |
| Lexington | B | 1.0 | 9.4 |
| Hanahan | B− | 2.2 | 12.0 |
| Clemson | C+ | 1.3 | 17.7 |
| Moncks Corner | C | 3.2 | 19.2 |
| North Myrtle Beach | D | 3.7 | 36.9 |
The five graded South Carolina towns closest to Greenwood’s population (22,745), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Greenwood. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Greenwood’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,695 in 2025); our figure for Greenwood is 22,745 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Greenwood
Is Greenwood, SC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Greenwood reports more crime per resident than 93% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #54 of 87 in South Carolina. Its police reported 5.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.2 in the rest of South Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Greenwood?
5.5 violent and 35.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of South Carolina reports 5.2 and 27.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Greenwood?
Greenwood’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Greenwood”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Greenwood.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.