Crime in West Virginia

2025 at a glance

265.6

Violent crime rate

Per 100,000 residents. National rate 329.3.

1,093.8

Property crime rate

Per 100,000 residents. National rate 1,552.1.

4.4

Homicide rate

Per 100,000 residents, from 68 reported offenses.

1,542,126

Population covered

The FBI’s estimate for the agencies that reported. This is the rate denominator.

87.3%

Share of the population

Of the state’s population living in a reporting agency’s jurisdiction.

406 of 410

Agencies reporting to NIBRS

Agencies submitting incident-based data, of those the FBI lists in the state.

Figures are for calendar year 2025, taken from the FBI Crime Data Explorer on September 19, 2026.

By offense

These are the component offenses. They are part of the violent crime and property crime categories above, not additional to them, and we do not add them together to build those categories: which offense rolls up into which is the FBI’s definition. A cleared offense is one the FBI records as closed by arrest or by exceptional means. It is not a conviction.

Reported crime in West Virginia since 1985

Nearest rates

The five jurisdictions either side of West Virginia in the violent crime ranking, with West Virginia in bold. At either end of the ranking the window slides rather than shrinking, so first place gets the top eleven rather than the top six.

West Virginia in other topics: federal spending, nonprofits.

Full rankings: violent crime, property crime, and homicide. All states: crime and justice.

West Virginia compared

Side by side with the states it is published against, each with the share of its population that reporting agencies covered.

• West Virginia and the nation
• West Virginia and Ohio
• West Virginia and Illinois

West Virginia elsewhere on the Factbook

• Most dangerous cities in West Virginia Crime and justice

  What each agency serving 25,000 or more reported, ranked. Agency populations overlap, so these do not add up to the state.

• Prison population Crime and justice

  People held under the state’s correctional authority, and the imprisonment rate. A different publisher counting a different thing.

• Arrests by race, sex and age Crime and justice

  Arrests as the FBI’s participating agencies reported them, with what the figures can and cannot support at the top.

• Hate crime Crime and justice

  Incidents reported to the FBI by bias motivation, as counts — the collection publishes no participation share, so there is no rate to compare states on.

• Federal obligations Federal spending

  What federal agencies obligated against a place of performance in the state, per resident and by agency.

• Registered nonprofits Nonprofits

  How many organizations the IRS lists in the state, what they report as revenue, and which kinds of work they do.

• Payments to doctors Health

  What drug and device companies reported paying doctors with a practice address in the state, and the largest recipients.

• Farm program payments Farm subsidies

  What the Farm Service Agency paid through the state’s county offices, by program and by recipient. The offices that administered the payments, not a count of farms: a recipient addressed elsewhere is counted where they were paid.

• Paycheck Protection Program loans PPP loans

  The PPP loans SBA guaranteed to businesses operating in the state, by county, with how many carry a forgiveness amount and how many were charged off. Loans, not businesses: a business with two draws is two loans.

• Public schools Schools

  Pupils, schools and teachers, the largest districts, what districts spend per pupil and where the money comes from, and the colleges that take federal student aid.

• Banks and credit unions Banks and credit unions

  The FDIC-insured banks headquartered in the state and their offices, and the credit unions based there and their sites, each per resident and against every other state.

• Housing Housing

  The homes under HUD’s rental assistance programs in the state, by program and county, and its tax-credit housing, each per resident and against every other state.

• Mortgage lending Mortgage lending

  The mortgage applications, loans and denials lenders reported in the state under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, and its largest lenders and counties.

• College athletics Sports

  Every college in the state that reported to the Equity in Athletics survey, ranked by its athletics revenue, with its expenses, athletes and athletic aid.

• Federal civilian workforce Federal salaries

  Federal civilian employees stationed in the state by agency and occupation, with the pay OPM publishes and the share it withholds.

• The West Virginia Factbook entry Across the Factbook

  Every measure the Factbook publishes for this state in one place, each with where it ranks among the others and the record it came from.

The immigration hub has no page for this state: EOIR runs no immigration court here, and CBP publishes by sector and field office, which are its own areas of responsibility rather than a geography. Immigration and the border.