Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Reported crime per resident in Bern Township fell 44% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Bern Township grades B+ for safety (#297 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): less crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Bern Township
1 of the 5 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 8 Pennsylvania towns on Bern Township’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Lower Heidelberg Township (A+), Spring Township (B+), Muhlenberg Township (B−), Wyomissing (C+), Reading (C). Ontelaunee Township, Leesport and Centre Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, closer to the middle
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Bern Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 49% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 71% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Bern Township has 5,868 jobs based in town for 6,780 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read 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 Bern Township’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; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Bern Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Bern Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 8.2 | 19.1 | 1.8 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 5.2 | 17.4 | 1.0 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 4.5 | 16.1 | 1.0 | 2.6 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Bern Township’s police reported 26 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.9 in the rest of Pennsylvania and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Bern Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.8 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 5 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
38 crimes reported in 2025
7 violent and 31 property, as reported to the FBI by Bern Township’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Five people died in crashes on Bern Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Bern Township had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died.
That is more than is typical for Pennsylvania towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (5.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bern Township’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bern Township’s own rate (14.9) 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.
Bern Township and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bern Township | B+ | 1.3 | 6.0 |
| Lower Heidelberg Township | A+ | 0.3 | 2.6 |
| Muhlenberg Township | B− | 0.6 | 15.7 |
| Ontelaunee Township | — | — | — |
| Spring Township | B+ | 0.7 | 8.9 |
| Leesport | — | — | — |
| Reading | C | 3.5 | 14.7 |
| Wyomissing | C+ | 0.8 | 20.4 |
| Centre Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ontelaunee Township, Leesport and Centre Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bern Township | B+ | 1.3 | 6.0 |
| Washington Township | A+ | 0.1 | 1.9 |
| East Earl Township | A− | 0.3 | 6.2 |
| Shamokin | B− | 2.8 | 7.7 |
| Clifton Heights | C+ | 2.7 | 10.8 |
| Folcroft | C− | 3.9 | 24.7 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Bern Township’s population (6,780), by grade.
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 Bern Township. 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 Bern Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,819 in 2025); our figure for Bern Township is 6,780 (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 Bern Township
Is Bern Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bern Township reports less crime per resident than 71% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #297 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 1.3 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 Bern Township?
1.3 violent and 6.0 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.
Is crime going up or down in Bern Township?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Bern Township safer than Lower Heidelberg Township?
Lower Heidelberg Township reports less crime per resident than Bern Township: Lower Heidelberg Township grades A+ for safety and Bern Township B+. Lower Heidelberg Township’s police reported 0.3 violent and 2.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Bern Township?
Bern Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bern Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bern Township.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.