The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Greenville, SC
The Greenville metro area, the 59th-largest in the US, is home to 961,900 residents · Updated November 2026
Is Greenville, SC safe?
Yes, crime in the Greenville area is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, the Greenville area sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 44% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. The city of Greenville itself grades B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within the Greenville area run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 805 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
44% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than the Greenville area as a whole, and 56% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Greenville area scores 805.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Greenville, SC at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Greenville area, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in the Greenville area
Car thefts run high in West End, Southernside & Woodside Cotton Mill Historic District. In this part of west Greenville, they run at about triple the rate in the rest of Greenville.
Thefts from cars happen at homes far more often than nationally. In the Greenville area, 67% of reported thefts from cars happen at homes, against 34% nationally.
Robbery runs low. The Greenville area has 0.30 robberies a year per 1,000 residents, about half the US rate of 0.62.
The safest and most dangerous places in the Greenville area
Low crime is the norm across the Greenville area: 90% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 6% in areas graded D or F. Grades across the Greenville area run from A+ to F; 55% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
90%
A or B 90%C 4%D or F 6%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Greenville
1North Main, northThefts run about 60% higher here than in the rest of Greenville.B+702
2Augusta Street, southClose to the rest of Greenville on most crimes.B681
3Nicholtown, Pettigru Street & Overbrook, centralCar thefts run at about double the rate in the rest of Greenville.B619
Neighborhood areas of the city of Greenville, ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Greenville metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the area, the Pickens area has the least crime and the downtown Greenville area the most.
Is crime going up in the Greenville area?
Reported crime in the Greenville area has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 17% and property crime down 28%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.5 to 3.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 28 to 21 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Greenville areaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across the Greenville area. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Greenville area
Violent, US
Property, Greenville area
Property, US
2016
+13%
+4%
+18%
+15%
2017
+9%
+4%
+10%
+12%
2018
-0%
+0%
+8%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+11%
+4%
+0%
-8%
2021
+1%
+6%
-10%
-10%
2022
-6%
+5%
-18%
-6%
2023
-12%
+2%
-21%
-7%
2024
-17%
-4%
-28%
-15%
Crime rates and types in the Greenville area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Greenville area has about 42 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 12% more than the US as a whole and close to South Carolina.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft is the most common crime in the Greenville area, about 39% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in the Greenville area
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across the Greenville area, 2022 to 2024.
In the Greenville area, 69% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (69%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (61%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (67%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (56%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Homes (34%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (66%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How the Greenville area compares with nearby metro areas
The Greenville area has less crime than 9 of its 10 nearest metro areas; only the Knoxville area has less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Greenville area. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Greenville area is safer than 65% of them.
Density, night lighting and transit in the Greenville area
One thing sets the Greenville area apart: it has 5% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less robbery and car theft; here robbery and car theft sit near the national middle.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.5% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 93% of Americans in metro areas
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.67% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 88% of Americans in metro areas
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Greenville area: F (2 of 100).1 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 82% of Americans in metro areas
Show all 4
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary.7.5% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 77% of Americans in metro areas
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs the Greenville area
Crime costs the Greenville area about $1,283 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 6% more than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $470 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $1.58 billion a year, or $1,642 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$101 million
$105
Rape
$23 million
$24
Robbery
$8.9 million
$9
Assault
$165 million
$172
Burglary
$24 million
$25
Theft
$79 million
$83
Vehicle theft
$30 million
$31
Arson
$2.1 million
$2
Vandalism
$37 million
$38
Total
$470 million
$489
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in the Greenville area means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. These figures cover the whole Greenville metro area. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in the Greenville area average a SchoolGrade of A-: 59% of students test proficient, against 42% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in the Greenville area on SchoolGrade
