Photo: BeaufortTiger · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Walterboro records more crime than almost every U.S. town
In a usual year, 12.0 violent crimes and 58.2 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of South Carolina, 5.1 and 27.2. Its Safety Grade is D−, on crimes Walterboro’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #72 of 87 graded towns in South Carolina. The crimes the grade counts fell 32% per resident from 2023 to 2025. It has more violent crime than 99% of U.S. towns, and more property crime than 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 Walterboro
Among South Carolina towns, closer to the middle
South Carolina’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Walterboro’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 job center
Walterboro has 5,012 jobs based in town for 5,485 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 Walterboro’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 | Walterboro property | Rest of South Carolina property | Walterboro violent | Rest of South Carolina violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 73.1 | 30.9 | 9.6 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 71.7 | 30.3 | 15.8 | 5.6 |
| 2024 | 53.8 | 27.7 | 10.1 | 5.4 |
| 2025 | 49.2 | 23.6 | 10.0 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Walterboro | Rest of South Carolina | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.6 | 5.7 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 15.8 | 5.6 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 10.1 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 10.0 | 4.5 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Walterboro’s police reported 196 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 12.0 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 Walterboro 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 10 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
325 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.
55 violent and 270 property, as reported to the FBI by Walterboro’s police.
Nine people died in crashes on Walterboro’s roads in 2019–2023
Walterboro had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which nine people died; 2 were pedestrians. 3 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is more than 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 Walterboro’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Walterboro’s own rate (32.8) 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.
Walterboro and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walterboro | D− | 12.0 | 58.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
South Carolina towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walterboro | D− | 12.0 | 58.2 |
| Central | B− | 0.7 | 14.2 |
| Batesburg-Leesville | D | 7.7 | 25.9 |
| Lake City | D− | 18.2 | 42.3 |
| Marion | D− | 10.4 | 55.6 |
| Darlington | D− | 12.3 | 54.7 |
The five graded South Carolina towns closest to Walterboro’s population (5,485), 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 Walterboro. 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 Walterboro’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,484 in 2025); our figure for Walterboro is 5,485 (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 Walterboro
Is Walterboro, SC safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Walterboro 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 12.0 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 Walterboro?
12.0 violent and 58.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of South Carolina reports 5.1 and 27.2; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Walterboro?
Walterboro’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Walterboro”. 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 Walterboro.
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.