Photo: Gpeytoncrowder · CC BY-SA 4.0Crime per resident in Laurens runs higher than in 95% of U.S. towns
It has more violent crime than 96% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 91%. The Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crimes Laurens’ police reported through 2023 to 2025: #58 of 87 graded towns in South Carolina. The local count comes to 8.3 violent crimes and 30.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 5.1 and 27.3 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 Laurens
Among South Carolina towns, closer to the middle
South Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Laurens’ place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 33% of the 87 South Carolina towns we grade, against 5% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Laurens’ 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 | Laurens | Rest of South Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.2 | 5.8 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 7.3 | 5.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 9.3 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 8.5 | 4.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Laurens’ police reported 232 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 8.3 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 Laurens 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 9 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 | Laurens property | Rest of South Carolina property | Laurens violent | Rest of South Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 30.6 | 31.1 | 6.2 | 5.8 |
| 2023 | 30.0 | 30.4 | 7.3 | 5.6 |
| 2024 | 30.0 | 27.7 | 9.3 | 5.4 |
| 2025 | 31.0 | 23.6 | 8.5 | 4.5 |
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.
369 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.
79 violent and 290 property, as reported to the FBI by Laurens’ police.
Seven people died in crashes on Laurens’s roads in 2019–2023
Laurens had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven 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 Laurens’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Laurens’s own rate (15.0) 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.
Laurens and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laurens | D | 8.3 | 30.3 |
| Watts Mills | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Watts Mills is an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) with no police department of its own.
South Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laurens | D | 8.3 | 30.3 |
| Travelers Rest | C− | 2.5 | 23.4 |
| Seneca | C− | 4.9 | 15.7 |
| Forest Acres | D | 3.7 | 32.8 |
| Camden | D− | 8.7 | 38.7 |
| Lancaster | D− | 10.0 | 53.7 |
The five graded South Carolina towns closest to Laurens’ population (9,327), 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 Laurens. 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 Laurens’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (9,349 in 2025); our figure for Laurens is 9,327 (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 Laurens
Is Laurens, SC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Laurens reports more crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #58 of 87 in South Carolina. Its police reported 8.3 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 Laurens?
8.3 violent and 30.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of South Carolina reports 5.1 and 27.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Laurens?
Laurens’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Laurens”. 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 Laurens.
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.