State crime profile · 2024
Pennsylvania Crime Rates: Safest & Most Dangerous Cities
Crime data for 840 cities and 38 counties in Pennsylvania (PA), ranked safest to most dangerous from 1,440 reporting agencies.
- 249.5
- Violent / 100K
- 1,457.1
- Property / 100K
- 840
- Cities
- 38
- Counties
The verdict
Pennsylvania's 249.5 violent crimes per 100,000 runs 29% below the U.S. average, making it safer than most states.
- 249.5
- violent crimes per 100K
- -29%
- vs. the U.S. average
- 17th
- safest of 51 states & DC
- 1,457.1
- property crimes per 100K
How safe is Pennsylvania? FBI UCR data snapshot
Pennsylvania (PA) reported 32,633 violent crimes and 190,567 property crimes in 2024, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program submissions from 1,440 law enforcement agencies. That translates to a statewide violent crime rate of 249.5 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1457.1 per 100,000 against a reporting population of 13,078,751. The PlainCrime dataset indexes 840 Pennsylvania cities and 38 counties, each with their own detail pages and local crime figures drawn from FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10.
Within the statewide violent crime total, aggravated assault accounted for 0 incidents, robbery 0, murder and non-negligent manslaughter 0, and rape 0. Property crime splits across larceny-theft (0), burglary (0), motor vehicle theft (0), and arson (0).
Across 11 years of state-level UCR history (2014–2024), the violent crime rate moved from 314.7 to 249.5 per 100,000, a decline of 20.7%. City-level detail pages within Pennsylvania include safety grades (A+ to F), benchmarks against national averages, per-capita risk estimates, and multi-year trend tables for users comparing specific jurisdictions. All figures above are drawn from FBI UCR 2024 submissions; reporting completeness varies by agency, and the FBI periodically restates prior-year figures as late submissions arrive.
State figures roll up the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) submissions from local and county agencies across the state, then express them per 100,000 residents so one state can be compared with another. Statewide averages hide a great deal of variation: a handful of large cities often account for much of a state's reported violent crime, while most of its land area and population live with markedly lower rates. Reporting completeness also differs between states, so a year-over-year change can reflect which agencies filed data as much as any real shift on the ground. Read a state number as the broad backdrop, then drill into the city and county pages for the local detail that actually shapes day-to-day decisions.
How Pennsylvania ranks nationally
Pennsylvania vs. every U.S. state
Violent crime per 100,000 residents, FBI UCR 2024. Lower is safer.
250 Safer than 67% lower than 67% of 51 U.S. states
Each bar is a band of values; taller bars hold more U.S. states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · 2024
Safest Cities
Top 50 by lowest violent crime rate
Most Dangerous Cities
Top 50 by highest violent crime rate
Crime Trends
Multi-year charts & analysis
Crime Trends
| Year | Population | Violent Crime | Rate | Property Crime | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 13,078,751 | 32,633 | 249.5 | 190,567 | 1457.1 |
| 2023 | 12,961,683 | 34,411 | 265.5 | 200,225 | 1544.7 |
| 2022 | 12,972,008 | 32,195 | 248.2 | 163,770 | 1262.5 |
| 2021 | 12,964,004 | 22,156 | 170.9 | 84,235 | 649.8 |
| 2020 | 12,783,254 | 33,249 | 260.1 | 142,994 | 1118.6 |
| 2019 | 12,801,989 | 36,819 | 287.6 | 170,647 | 1333 |
| 2018 | 12,807,060 | 39,156 | 305.7 | 191,905 | 1498.4 |
| 2017 | 12,805,537 | 40,004 | 312.4 | 211,461 | 1651.3 |
| 2016 | 12,784,227 | 40,279 | 315.1 | 223,332 | 1746.9 |
| 2015 | 12,802,503 | 40,127 | 313.4 | 232,990 | 1819.9 |
| 2014 | 12,787,209 | 40,240 | 314.7 | 248,431 | 1942.8 |
Cities in Pennsylvania
Safest cities in Pennsylvania
Cities with 25,000+ residents, lowest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Cranberry Township
Cranberry Township
11.4 /100K
- Middletown Township
Middletown Township
15.4 /100K
- Westtown-East Goshen Regional
Westtown-East Goshen Regional
16.9 /100K
- Northampton Township
Northampton Township
20.1 /100K
- Upper Macungie Township
Upper Macungie Township
20.6 /100K
- Haverford Township
Haverford Township
21.8 /100K
- Hampden Township
Hampden Township
22.5 /100K
- Warrington Township
Warrington Township
22.8 /100K
What this shows Cranberry Township is the safest sizeable city in Pennsylvania, at 11.4 violent crimes per 100,000.
Highest violent-crime cities in Pennsylvania
Cities with 25,000+ residents, highest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Philadelphia
Philadelphia
908.7 /100K
- Chester
Chester
830.8 /100K
- Harrisburg
Harrisburg
762.2 /100K
- York
York
530.1 /100K
- Norristown
Norristown
450.2 /100K
- Wilkes-Barre
Wilkes-Barre
431.6 /100K
- Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
427.2 /100K
- Erie
Erie
375.6 /100K
What this shows Philadelphia reports the highest big-city violent-crime rate in Pennsylvania, at 908.7 per 100,000.
Counties in Pennsylvania
Largest counties in Pennsylvania, violent crime per 100K
Top 8 counties by population, violent crime per 100,000 residents. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Allegheny
Allegheny
0.4 /100K
- Montgomery 0
Montgomery
0 /100K
- Bucks 0
Bucks
0 /100K
- Lancaster 0.2
Lancaster
0.2 /100K
- Chester 0
Chester
0 /100K
- York
York
0.7 /100K
- Berks
Berks
0.9 /100K
- Lehigh 0
Lehigh
0 /100K
Nearby States
Compare Pennsylvania with neighboring states, or use the compare tool for side-by-side jurisdiction benchmarking.
Explore Pennsylvania crime data
Primary source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States annual release. State-level trends cross-check against the FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API.
Population figures for rate calculations reference U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI-reported populations are unavailable. Verify with Census.gov QuickFacts.
Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Using PlainCrime rankings responsibly
Crime rankings are most useful when they sit alongside other community-quality signals, school performance, housing affordability, employment, and access to healthcare. A safer-than-average violent-crime rate in a small commuter suburb does not by itself make a city a better place to live; it is one data point among many. Likewise, a higher-than-average rate in a dense urban center may reflect that residents and visitors interact with police more often, not that the city is necessarily unsafe for its residents. We provide cross-links from each city profile to neighboring jurisdictions, state averages, and national benchmarks so you can read each number in context rather than in isolation.
For news outlets, researchers, and concerned residents who cite our rankings, the most defensible approach is to quote the per-100,000 rate, the reporting year, and the source agency in the same sentence. Avoid framing crime statistics as predictive, UCR data describes what was reported in a past year, not what will happen tomorrow. Where possible, pair our rankings with longitudinal trend data on the relevant city's profile page to show whether the rate is moving up, holding steady, or falling year over year.