Norristown, PA is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns a D PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 28% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Norristown, PA shows violent crime at 450.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,960.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 28% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade D from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
D safety grade
450.2/100K violent
1960.1/100K property
+28% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Norristown, PA
Position in the state cohort
Norristown reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Pennsylvania cities
At 450.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Norristown ranks 49 of 838 — above 789 of the 837 other Pennsylvania cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +589.2% against the cohort median of 65.3. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Comparable rate records
Norristown's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Pennsylvania cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Norristown's 450.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Lower Chichester Township (445.6), New Kensington (456.4), Shamokin (458.5), West Reading (440.3). 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.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 62.3% of reported property offenses in Norristown, against a cohort median of 85.9%. The remainder is burglary (74) and motor vehicle theft (190). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 18.7% of the 862 Part I offenses reported in Norristown for 2024, against a median of 10.0% across comparable Pennsylvania cities — a gap of 8.7 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 401.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 450.2 in 2024 (+12.0%). The highest observed value was 451.4 in 2022 and the lowest 401.9 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Norristown'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.
Norristown's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 3.5 Census sq mi, Norristown logged 199.4 property and 45.8 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Norristown leans on larceny-theft at 51% of reported offenses, with a moderate mix index of 3,285.
Violent offenses are 19% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (3.5 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
+8.2%
416.2 → 450.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
+1.6%
1930 → 1960.1/100K
Property offenses lead Norristown's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs PA
Property Crime
701
1960.1
1457.1
Larceny-Theft
437
1221.9
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
190
531.3
-
Burglary
74
206.9
-
Arson
8
22.4
-
Violent Crime
161
450.2
249.5
Robbery
77
215.3
-
Aggravated Assault
74
206.9
-
Rape
7
19.6
-
Murder
3
8.4
-
Norristown Crime Trend (2020-2024)
The chart omits 2021 rather than drawing an unsupported zero or partial-coverage dip. The table preserves the year and marks the gap.
Norristown property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Norristown Police Department
Reporting agency for Norristown Summary Reporting (SRS)
Norristown Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Norristown's 862 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.
Similar-Size Cities in Pennsylvania
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Pennsylvania cities closest to Norristown in population. Their populations run from 33,400 to 36,408, against 35,764 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Norristown reported 161 violent crimes and 701 property crimes, for a total of 862 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Norristown?
From 2023 to 2024, Norristown's violent crime rate increased by 8.2%, and the property crime rate increased by 1.6%.
What is the most common crime in Norristown?
The most common crime type in Norristown is larceny-theft, accounting for 50.7% of all reported crimes (437 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Norristown 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 Norristown, PA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.