Ephrata, PA has a A safety grade (89/100) with a violent crime rate of 29 per 100,000, 92% below the national average.
FBI UCR 2024 · per-capita rates · mid-size city
Ephrata (34,010 people) sits in the mid-size municipal band. This page opens with per-100,000 FBI UCR rates, then PA and national benchmarks.
Data updated 2026-09-05
Ephrata, PA is among the safest cities in the country, and earns an A PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 92% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Ephrata, PA shows violent crime at 29.4 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 902.7 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 92% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
Small-count caution
Ephrata reported 10 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 34,010. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
2020–2024 direction
Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 122.1 per 100,000 in 2020 to 29.4 in 2024 (-75.9%). The highest observed value was 122.1 in 2020 and the lowest 29.4 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Comparable rate records
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Ephrata's 29.4 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are East Earl Township (29.3), Ambler (29.2), Malvern (29.2), Marple Township (29.1). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Position in the state cohort
At 29.4 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Ephrata ranks 564 of 838 — above 274 of the 837 other Pennsylvania cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -55.5% against the cohort median of 66.1. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
Violent offenses are 3.2% of the 317 Part I offenses reported in Ephrata for 2024, against a median of 10.0% across comparable Pennsylvania cities — a gap of 6.8 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
Property-offense composition
Larceny-theft is 94.8% of reported property offenses in Ephrata, against a cohort median of 85.8%. The remainder is burglary (10) and motor vehicle theft (6). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Ephrata's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Based on 10 reported violent incidents in a population of 34,010. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Across 3.4 Census sq mi, Ephrata logged 89.8 property and 2.9 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Ephrata's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (92% of 317 offenses; mix index 8,445).
Violent offenses are only 3% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Ephrata offense mix (2024)
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (3.4 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
| Offense | Count | Rate /100K |
|---|---|---|
| Property Crime | 307 | 902.7 |
| Larceny-Theft | 291 | 855.6 |
| Burglary | 10 | 29.4 |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 6 | 17.6 |
| Arson | 2 | 5.9 |
| Violent Crime | 10 | 29.4 |
| Aggravated Assault | 6 | 17.6 |
| Rape | 3 | 8.8 |
| Robbery | 1 | 2.9 |
| Murder | 0 | 0 |
The chart omits 2021 rather than drawing an unsupported zero or partial-coverage dip. The table preserves the year and marks the gap.
Lead series · fell across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
| Year | Coverage | Population | Violent Rate | Property Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Comparable | 13,920 | 122.1 | 1300.3 |
| 2021 | Insufficient reporting | 33,879 | - | - |
| 2022 | Comparable | 34,448 | 34.8 | 226.4 |
| 2023 | Comparable | 34,165 | 43.9 | 878.1 |
| 2024 | Comparable | 34,010 | 29.4 | 902.7 |
Ephrata Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Ephrata's 317 reported offenses (4-year span 2020-2024, with internal gaps).
This agency reports via the traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS): aggregate monthly offense counts rather than incident-level detail.
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Pennsylvania cities closest to Ephrata in population. Their populations run from 32,585 to 35,576, against 34,010 here. Or use our side-by-side compare tool to benchmark two cities directly.
Ephrata sits at 29.4/100K violent (grade A); the Pennsylvania cities below are the nearest matches after size peers are removed.
Ephrata at 29.4/100K violent and 902.7/100K property - matched below outside Pennsylvania (≥10k pop, latest UCR vintage; not the in-state lists above).
29.4/100K here; nearest out-of-state matches.
902.7/100K here; violent-rate peers above excluded.
In 2024, Ephrata reported 10 violent crimes and 307 property crimes, for a total of 317 reported offenses.
From 2023 to 2024, Ephrata's violent crime rate decreased by 33%, and the property crime rate increased by 2.8%.
The most common crime type in Ephrata is larceny-theft, accounting for 91.8% of all reported crimes (291 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Ephrata figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Mid-size rate methodology for how Ephrata's mid-size city row is sourced and ranked.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Ephrata, PA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.
Bulk download: city crime dataset (CSV/JSON)
Put this to use
Put the Ephrata, PA FBI UCR record to work: compare peers, open the state atlas, or look up another city.
A citywide UCR rate is a starting point, not a neighbourhood verdict: read the full profile and the year coverage notes before drawing conclusions.
Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Ephrata is scored in the mid-size municipal band (34,010 on the row). See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.