Photo: Evanoco · CC BY-SA 4.0Lake City has more crime per resident than almost every U.S. town
Violent crime here is higher than in 100% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 97%. Its letter for safety is D−, worked out from crimes Lake City’s police reported over 2023 to 2025: #72 of 87 graded towns in South Carolina. Recorded violent crimes ran at 18.2 per 1,000 residents a year and property crime at 42.3, against 5.1 and 27.2 in the rest of South Carolina.
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 Lake City
Among South Carolina towns, closer to the middle
South Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Lake City’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 17% of the 87 South Carolina towns we grade, against 1% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Lake City’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; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Lake City | Rest of South Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 20.7 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 18.2 | 5.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 18.0 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 18.3 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lake City’s police reported 324 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 18.2 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.1 in the rest of South Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Lake City 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 18 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Lake City property | Rest of South Carolina property | Lake City violent | Rest of South Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 37.5 | 31.1 | 20.7 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 41.8 | 30.4 | 18.2 | 5.6 |
| 2024 | 47.5 | 27.7 | 18.0 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 37.5 | 23.6 | 18.3 | 4.4 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of South Carolina.
329 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.
108 violent and 221 property, as reported to the FBI by Lake City’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Lake City’s roads in 2019–2023
Lake City had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died.
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 Lake City’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lake City’s own rate (6.7) 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.
Lake City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake City | D− | 18.2 | 42.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
South Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake City | D− | 18.2 | 42.3 |
| Batesburg-Leesville | D | 7.7 | 25.9 |
| Marion | D− | 10.4 | 55.6 |
| Darlington | D− | 12.3 | 54.7 |
| Walterboro | D− | 12.0 | 58.2 |
| Dillon | D− | 19.8 | 58.3 |
The five graded South Carolina towns closest to Lake City’s population (5,940), 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 Lake City. 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 Lake City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,888 in 2025); our figure for Lake City is 5,940 (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 Lake City
Is Lake City, SC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lake City reports more crime per resident than 99% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade and #72 of 87 in South Carolina. Its police reported 18.2 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.1 in the rest of South Carolina and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Lake City?
18.2 violent and 42.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of South Carolina reports 5.1 and 27.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Lake City?
Lake City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lake City”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lake City.
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.