Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Allentown records more violent crime per head than 69% of U.S. towns
Next door, 2 of 3 towns with figures record less crime per resident. What’s more, on crimes Allentown’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C for safety: #487 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania, and #83 of 325 U.S. cities over 100,000. The crimes the grade counts fell 19% per resident from 2023 to 2025. The local count comes to 2.7 violent crimes and 15.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 2.9 and 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of PA” is every other Pennsylvania 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 Allentown
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Pennsylvania towns on Allentown’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Emmaus (B), Bethlehem (C+), Whitehall Township (C). Salisbury Township and Hanover Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. South Whitehall Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, lower
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Allentown’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 16% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 33% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Homicides: above U.S. cities overall
Allentown’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI in 2025. Over 2023–2025 that is 6.6 per 100,000 residents a year, above the rest of Pennsylvania (6.0) and above all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (5.7). Violent crime ↓
Robberies: about the same as the rest of Pennsylvania
69.3 robberies per 100,000 residents a year over 2023–2025 (91 reported in 2025), about the same as the rest of Pennsylvania (71.7) and below all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables (79.4). Violent crime ↓
Against other big cities
Among the 325 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, Allentown reports less crime per resident than 74% (#83). Places like it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Allentown’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 higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.7) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns. Its property rate (15.9) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Allentown property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Allentown violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 17.9 | 19.1 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 15.7 | 17.4 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 14.2 | 16.1 | 2.6 | 2.6 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2023–2025, against the rest of Pennsylvania.
Crime in Allentown 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 3 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Homicides and robberies
Show as a table
| Year | Allentown | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 13.6 | 8.0 | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 3.2 | 5.5 | 5.7 |
| 2025 | 3.1 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
Homicides per 100,000 residents
Show as a table
| Year | Allentown | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. cities (FBI tables) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 79.3 | 86.9 | 90.6 |
| 2024 | 57.0 | 69.5 | 81.9 |
| 2025 | 71.4 | 59.2 | 66.0 |
Robberies per 100,000 residents
Allentown’s police reported 4 homicides, 91 robberies and 334 violent crimes in all to the FBI in 2025. By year, against the rest of Pennsylvania and all U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables.
2,140 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.
334 violent and 1,806 property, as reported to the FBI by Allentown’s police.
38 people died in crashes on Allentown’s roads in 2019–2023
Allentown had 35 fatal crashes in five years, in which 38 people died; 11 were pedestrians. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
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.
Allentown and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allentown | C | 2.7 | 15.9 |
| Salisbury Township | — | — | — |
| South Whitehall Township | — | — | — |
| Whitehall Township | C | 2.1 | 23.3 |
| Bethlehem | C+ | 1.9 | 13.8 |
| Hanover Township | — | — | — |
| Emmaus | B | 1.0 | 10.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Salisbury Township and Hanover Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. South Whitehall Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allentown | C | 2.7 | 15.9 |
| Lower Merion Township | B− | 0.6 | 16.0 |
| Scranton | C | 3.1 | 13.5 |
| Reading | C | 3.5 | 14.7 |
| Erie | C− | 4.0 | 19.4 |
| Upper Darby Township | C− | 2.5 | 30.7 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Allentown’s population (126,044), 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 Allentown. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Allentown’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (127,494 in 2025); our figure for Allentown is 126,044 (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 Allentown
Is Allentown, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Allentown reports more crime per resident than 67% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #487 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 2.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.9 in the rest of Pennsylvania and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Allentown?
2.7 violent and 15.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Pennsylvania reports 2.9 and 17.5; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Allentown in 2025?
Allentown’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.1 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Allentown safer than Whitehall Township?
Whitehall Township reports more crime per resident than Allentown: Whitehall Township grades C for safety and Allentown C. Whitehall Township’s police reported 2.1 violent and 23.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Allentown?
Allentown’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Allentown”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Allentown.
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.