Pottstown, PA is among the highest-crime cities in the country, and earns an F PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 109% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Pottstown, PA shows violent crime at 737.4 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 3,104.1 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 109% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade F from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
F safety grade
737.4/100K violent
3104.1/100K property
+109% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Pottstown, PA
Position in the state cohort
Pottstown reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Pennsylvania cities
At 737.4 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Pottstown ranks 20 of 838 — above 818 of the 837 other Pennsylvania cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +1029.0% 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
Pottstown's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Pennsylvania cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Pottstown's 737.4 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Hempfield Township, Mercer County (744.6), Windber (747.2), Millbourne (751.3), Harrisburg (762.2). 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.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 19.2% of the 896 Part I offenses reported in Pottstown for 2024, against a median of 10.0% across comparable Pennsylvania cities — a gap of 9.2 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 lower
Across 4 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 817.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 737.4 in 2024 (-9.8%). The highest observed value was 817.6 in 2020 and the lowest 675.9 in 2022. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Pottstown'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.
Pottstown's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 4.9 Census sq mi, Pottstown logged 149.2 property and 35.4 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Pottstown's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (68% of 896 offenses; mix index 4,868).
Violent offenses are 19% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (4.9 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-18.6%
3811.6 → 3104.1/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-4.9%
775.2 → 737.4/100K
Property offenses lead Pottstown's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs PA
vs US avg
Property Crime
724
3104.1
1457.1
1711
Larceny-Theft
607
2602.5
-
-
Burglary
67
287.3
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
50
214.4
-
-
Arson
13
55.7
-
-
Violent Crime
172
737.4
249.5
352
Aggravated Assault
117
501.6
-
-
Robbery
30
128.6
-
-
Rape
25
107.2
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Pottstown 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.
Pottstown 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
Pottstown Police Department
Reporting agency for Pottstown Summary Reporting (SRS)
Pottstown Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Pottstown's 896 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 Pottstown in population. Their populations run from 22,366 to 24,279, against 23,324 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Pottstown reported 172 violent crimes and 724 property crimes, for a total of 896 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Pottstown?
From 2023 to 2024, Pottstown's violent crime rate decreased by 4.9%, and the property crime rate decreased by 18.6%.
What is the most common crime in Pottstown?
The most common crime type in Pottstown is larceny-theft, accounting for 67.7% of all reported crimes (607 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Pottstown 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 Pottstown, PA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.