Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0For violent crime, Altoona trails 73% of U.S. towns per resident
Year on year, 3.0 violent crimes and 17.3 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 2.9 and 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania. Counting crimes Altoona’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C for safety: #501 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania. One of the 2 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident.
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 Altoona
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 Pennsylvania towns on Altoona’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Logan Township (B), Allegheny Township (C−). Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, lower
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Altoona’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 13% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 29% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Altoona’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 (3.0) 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 (17.3) 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.
Crime in Altoona 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Altoona | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Altoona’s police reported 385 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 3.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.9 in the rest of Pennsylvania and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Altoona property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Altoona violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 18.3 | 19.1 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 18.5 | 17.3 | 3.3 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 2.9 | 2.6 |
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, 2023–2025, against the rest of Pennsylvania.
764 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.
121 violent and 643 property, as reported to the FBI by Altoona’s police.
Seven people died in crashes on Altoona’s roads in 2019–2023
Altoona had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which seven people died; 3 were pedestrians.
That is about what is typical for Pennsylvania towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Altoona’s size would see about 12 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Altoona’s own rate (3.2) is context, not a ranking.
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.
Altoona and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altoona | C | 3.0 | 17.3 |
| Logan Township | B | 0.3 | 12.9 |
| Allegheny Township | C− | 1.1 | 30.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altoona | C | 3.0 | 17.3 |
| Northampton Township | A+ | 0.2 | 2.7 |
| Manheim Township | B+ | 0.7 | 7.8 |
| State College | B | 1.6 | 7.9 |
| Wilkes-Barre | C− | 4.2 | 15.3 |
| York | C− | 5.0 | 18.7 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Altoona’s population (42,347), 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 Altoona. 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 Altoona’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (42,434 in 2025); our figure for Altoona is 42,347 (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 Altoona
Is Altoona, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Altoona reports more crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #501 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 3.0 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 Altoona?
3.0 violent and 17.3 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 Altoona in 2025?
Altoona’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 2.4 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Altoona safer than Logan Township?
Logan Township reports less crime per resident than Altoona: Logan Township grades B for safety and Altoona C. Logan Township’s police reported 0.3 violent and 12.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Altoona?
Altoona’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Altoona”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Altoona.
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.