Middletown, DE is close to the national middle for violent crime, and earns a B PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 64% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Middletown, DE shows violent crime at 125 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,543.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 64% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade B from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
B safety grade
125/100K violent
1543.3/100K property
-64% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Middletown, DE
Comparable rate records
Middletown's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Delaware cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Middletown's 125.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Frankford (110.5), Clayton (110.0), Delaware City (156.9), Selbyville (91.3). 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 205.3 per 100,000 in 2020 to 125.0 in 2024 (-39.1%). The highest observed value was 391.3 in 2022 and the lowest 125.0 in 2024. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Middletown reported a lower violent-crime rate than most comparable Delaware cities
At 125.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Middletown ranks 29 of 38 — above 9 of the 37 other Delaware cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -59.6% against the cohort median of 309.7. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 7.5% of the 427 Part I offenses reported in Middletown for 2024, against a median of 14.3% across comparable Delaware 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 counts dominate Middletown'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.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Middletown's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 13.5 Census sq mi, Middletown logged 29.3 property and 2.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Middletown's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (78% of 427 offenses; mix index 6,204).
Violent offenses are only 7% of the municipal total - a property-led book.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (13.5 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-42.3%
216.6 → 125/100K
Property Crime Rate
-16.6%
1851.3 → 1543.3/100K
Property offenses lead Middletown's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs DE
Property Crime
395
1543.3
1772.7
Larceny-Theft
332
1297.2
-
Burglary
32
125
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
31
121.1
-
Arson
1
3.9
-
Violent Crime
32
125
367.8
Aggravated Assault
30
117.2
-
Robbery
2
7.8
-
Murder
0
0
-
Rape
0
0
-
Middletown Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Middletown property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averagesRead the chart as a list
Middletown: 125 violent, 1543 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Newark: 310 violent, 1998 property per 100,000 (grade C)
Milford: 791 violent, 3650 property per 100,000 (grade F)
Smyrna: 486 violent, 1965 property per 100,000 (grade D)
Dover: 1013 violent, 6069 property per 100,000 (grade F)
Seaford: 1134 violent, 4568 property per 100,000 (grade F)
Georgetown: 702 violent, 4990 property per 100,000 (grade F)
Millsboro: 419 violent, 2360 property per 100,000 (grade D)
Elsmere: 245 violent, 1777 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Middletown Police Department
Reporting agency for Middletown NIBRS-participating
Middletown Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Middletown's 427 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Delaware
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Delaware cities closest to Middletown in population. Their populations run from 6,135 to 40,087, against 25,594 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Middletown reported 32 violent crimes and 395 property crimes, for a total of 427 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Middletown?
From 2023 to 2024, Middletown's violent crime rate decreased by 42.3%, and the property crime rate decreased by 16.6%.
What is the most common crime in Middletown?
The most common crime type in Middletown is larceny-theft, accounting for 77.8% of all reported crimes (332 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Middletown 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.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Middletown, DE rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.