Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0Bethlehem Township has less violent crime per resident than 85% of U.S. towns
One of the 4 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. The rate the grade counts dropped 28% from 2023 to 2025. Across all the graded crimes, Bethlehem Township lands on B+ (#333 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): less crime per resident than 65% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Its police logs show 0.5 violent crime and 10.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Pennsylvania the numbers are 2.9 and 17.5.
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 Bethlehem Township
1 of the 4 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 6 Pennsylvania towns on Bethlehem Township’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Lower Saucon Township (A−), Palmer Township (B), Easton (B), Bethlehem (C+). Freemansburg reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Lower Nazareth Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, closer to the middle
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Bethlehem Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 42% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 65% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Bethlehem Township is home to Northampton County Area Community College, with 7,042 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 6% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. 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 Bethlehem 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; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Bethlehem Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.4 | 3.3 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.7 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Bethlehem Township’s police reported 40 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Bethlehem Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Bethlehem Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 12.5 | 19.1 | 0.4 | 3.3 |
| 2024 | 11.5 | 17.4 | 0.7 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 8.8 | 16.1 | 0.4 | 2.7 |
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 Bethlehem Township 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
249 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.
11 violent and 238 property, as reported to the FBI by Bethlehem Township’s police.
14 people died in crashes on Bethlehem Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Bethlehem Township had 12 fatal crashes in five years, in which 14 people died.
That is 10.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Pennsylvania towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.7, 67 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.
Bethlehem Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethlehem Township | B+ | 0.5 | 10.9 |
| Freemansburg | — | — | — |
| Lower Saucon Township | A− | 1.2 | 5.2 |
| Bethlehem | C+ | 1.9 | 13.8 |
| Lower Nazareth Township | — | — | — |
| Palmer Township | B | 0.4 | 12.0 |
| Easton | B | 1.7 | 9.5 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Freemansburg reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Lower Nazareth Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethlehem Township | B+ | 0.5 | 10.9 |
| Shaler Township | A | 0.4 | 5.3 |
| Upper Dublin Township | A− | 0.4 | 6.7 |
| Warrington Township | A− | 0.3 | 7.8 |
| Moon Township | A− | 0.7 | 6.9 |
| Lebanon | B− | 1.7 | 12.5 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Bethlehem Township’s population (26,769), 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 Bethlehem 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 Bethlehem Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (26,938 in 2025); our figure for Bethlehem Township is 26,769 (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 Bethlehem Township
Is Bethlehem Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bethlehem Township reports less crime per resident than 65% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade and #333 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 0.5 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 Bethlehem Township?
0.5 violent and 10.9 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 Bethlehem Township in 2025?
Bethlehem Township’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.7 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Bethlehem Township safer than Lower Saucon Township?
Lower Saucon Township reports less crime per resident than Bethlehem Township: Lower Saucon Township grades A− for safety and Bethlehem Township B+. Lower Saucon Township’s police reported 1.2 violent and 5.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Bethlehem Township?
Bethlehem Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bethlehem Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Bethlehem Township.
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.