Photo: Pubdog · Public domainLancaster sees less violent crime per resident than 85% of U.S. towns
Violence and property crime split as 0.5 violent crime and 9.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 5.0 and 21.1 in the rest of New York. Overall, Lancaster grades B+ for safety (#110 of 236 graded towns in New York): less crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of NY” is every other New York city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Lancaster
Lancaster reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 4 New York towns on Lancaster’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Cheektowaga (D). Elma, Clarence and Alden have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among New York towns, closer to the middle
New York’s cities and towns report more crime than most states’, so Lancaster’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 53% of the 236 New York towns we grade, against 69% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Lancaster’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Lancaster | Rest of New York | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.4 | 5.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.6 | 5.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lancaster’s police reported 57 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of New York and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Lancaster per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Lancaster property | Rest of New York property | Lancaster violent | Rest of New York violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.8 | 20.0 | 0.4 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 9.3 | 22.3 | 0.6 | 5.1 |
| 2024 | 9.6 | 21.3 | 0.4 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 10.6 | 19.7 | 0.5 | 4.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of New York.
437 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
18 violent and 419 property, as reported to the FBI by Lancaster’s police.
13 people died in crashes on Lancaster’s roads in 2019–2023
Lancaster had 10 fatal crashes in five years, in which 13 people died; 1 was a cyclist. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 5.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for New York towns of 25,000–100,000 people (4.5, 116 towns).
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Lancaster and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | B+ | 0.5 | 9.8 |
| Elma | — | — | — |
| Clarence | — | — | — |
| Cheektowaga | D | 2.3 | 33.7 |
| Alden | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Elma, Clarence and Alden have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
New York towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | B+ | 0.5 | 9.8 |
| Webster | B+ | 0.8 | 8.8 |
| Freeport | B | 1.5 | 9.1 |
| West Seneca | C+ | 1.2 | 16.4 |
| Poughkeepsie | C | 1.6 | 23.3 |
| Binghamton | D | 5.8 | 33.7 |
The five graded New York towns closest to Lancaster’s population (45,075), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Lancaster. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Lancaster’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (39,573 in 2025); our figure for Lancaster is 45,075 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Lancaster
Is Lancaster, NY safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lancaster reports less crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #110 of 236 in New York. Its police reported 0.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.0 in the rest of New York and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Lancaster?
0.5 violent and 9.8 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New York reports 5.0 and 21.1; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Lancaster in 2025?
Lancaster’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Lancaster safer than Cheektowaga?
Cheektowaga reports more crime per resident than Lancaster: Cheektowaga grades D for safety and Lancaster B+. Cheektowaga’s police reported 2.3 violent and 33.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lancaster?
Lancaster’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lancaster Town”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lancaster.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.