Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0Reported crime per resident in Charles Town fell 47% from 2023 to 2025
Taking everything together, Charles Town scores B+ (#4 of 29 graded towns in West Virginia): less crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns, measured on crimes its police reported between 2023 and 2025. The yearly rates were 0.9 violent crime and 9.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 4.1 and 24.8 in the rest of West Virginia.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of WV” is every other West Virginia 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 Charles Town
Among West Virginia towns, higher
West Virginia’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Charles Town’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 86% of the 29 West Virginia towns we grade, against 66% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Charles Town’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Charles Town property | Rest of West Virginia property | Charles Town violent | Rest of West Virginia violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 10.5 | 25.9 | 1.1 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | 12.3 | 24.6 | 0.7 | 3.9 |
| 2025 | 5.2 | 23.8 | 0.9 | 3.6 |
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, 2023–2025, against the rest of West Virginia.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Charles Town | Rest of West Virginia | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.1 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Charles Town’s police reported 23 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.1 in the rest of West Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Charles Town 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 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
59 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. 2025 figures come from FBI Crime Data Explorer, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
9 violent and 50 property, as reported to the FBI by Charles Town’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Charles Town’s roads in 2019–2023
Charles Town had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died.
That is about what is typical for West Virginia towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (10.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Charles Town’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Charles Town’s own rate (13.6) 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.
Charles Town and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Town | B+ | 0.9 | 9.1 |
| Ranson corporation | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ranson corporation has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
West Virginia towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Town | B+ | 0.9 | 9.1 |
| Bridgeport | B− | 1.2 | 13.8 |
| Moundsville | C | 2.4 | 20.1 |
| St. Albans | C | 2.2 | 22.6 |
| Bluefield | C− | 7.1 | 7.0 |
| Vienna | C− | 1.4 | 34.7 |
The five graded West Virginia towns closest to Charles Town’s population (9,329), 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 Charles Town. 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 Charles Town’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (9,588 in 2025); our figure for Charles Town is 9,329 (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 Charles Town
Is Charles Town, WV safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Charles Town reports less crime per resident than 66% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #4 of 29 in West Virginia. Its police reported 0.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.1 in the rest of West Virginia and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Charles Town?
0.9 violent and 9.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of West Virginia reports 4.1 and 24.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Charles Town?
Charles Town’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Charles Town Police Department”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Charles Town.
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.