Photo: JayeeDior12 · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Orangeburg records more crime than almost every U.S. town
Per resident, the graded crimes were down 33% from 2023 to 2025. Still, its Safety Grade is D−, on crimes Orangeburg’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #72 of 87 graded towns in South Carolina. Violence and property crime split as 13.2 violent crimes and 56.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 5.1 and 27.1 in the rest of South Carolina. Violent crime here is higher than in 99% of U.S. towns; property crime, higher than in 99%.
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 Orangeburg
Among South Carolina towns, closer to the middle
South Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Orangeburg’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 ↓
A college town
Orangeburg is home to South Carolina State University, with 2,870 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 20% 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
Orangeburg has 8,197 jobs based in town for 13,383 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 Orangeburg’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 | Orangeburg property | Rest of South Carolina property | Orangeburg violent | Rest of South Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 61.3 | 30.9 | 17.0 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 64.3 | 30.2 | 15.7 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | 62.1 | 27.5 | 12.5 | 5.3 |
| 2025 | 42.2 | 23.5 | 11.4 | 4.4 |
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Orangeburg | Rest of South Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.0 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 15.7 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 12.5 | 5.3 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 11.4 | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Orangeburg’s police reported 530 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 13.2 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 Orangeburg 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 11 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
720 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.
153 violent and 567 property, as reported to the FBI by Orangeburg’s police.
Four people died in crashes on Orangeburg’s roads in 2019–2023
Orangeburg had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died; 2 were pedestrians and 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 Orangeburg’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Orangeburg’s own rate (6.0) 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.
Orangeburg and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orangeburg | D− | 13.2 | 56.2 |
| Edisto | — | — | — |
| Wilkinson Heights | — | — | — |
| Brookdale | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Edisto, Wilkinson Heights and Brookdale are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
South Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orangeburg | D− | 13.2 | 56.2 |
| Tega Cay | A− | 0.4 | 6.0 |
| Fountain Inn | B− | 2.1 | 10.7 |
| Gaffney | D | 2.3 | 36.0 |
| Beaufort | D | 4.9 | 30.1 |
| Cayce | D | 6.9 | 26.9 |
The five graded South Carolina towns closest to Orangeburg’s population (13,383), 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 Orangeburg. 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 Orangeburg’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (13,431 in 2025); our figure for Orangeburg is 13,383 (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 Orangeburg
Is Orangeburg, SC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Orangeburg 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 13.2 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 Orangeburg?
13.2 violent and 56.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of South Carolina reports 5.1 and 27.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Orangeburg?
Orangeburg’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Orangeburg”. 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 Orangeburg.
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.