Brookhaven reports less violent crime than most U.S. towns, but more property crime
Overall, Brookhaven grades C for safety (#496 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): more crime per resident than 69% 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 Brookhaven
2 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Pennsylvania towns on Brookhaven’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Nether Providence Township (A), Aston Township (A−), Chester Township (C−), Upland (D), Chester (D). Middletown Township and Rose Valley have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Parkside reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, lower
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Brookhaven’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 14% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 31% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Brookhaven’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Brookhaven’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Brookhaven’s police reported 27 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.1 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 | Brookhaven | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
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 | Brookhaven property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Brookhaven violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 22.3 | 19.1 | 2.3 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 28.0 | 17.3 | 0.5 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 20.3 | 16.0 | 0.5 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 20 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.
175 crimes reported in 2025
4 violent and 171 property, as reported to the FBI by Brookhaven’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
One person died in crashes on Brookhaven’s roads in 2019–2023
Brookhaven had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what 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 Brookhaven’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Brookhaven’s own rate (2.4) 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.
Brookhaven and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brookhaven | C | 1.1 | 23.5 |
| Nether Providence Township | A | 0.3 | 4.6 |
| Middletown Township | — | — | — |
| Aston Township | A− | 0.7 | 6.5 |
| Parkside | — | — | — |
| Chester Township | C− | 4.0 | 17.8 |
| Upland | D | 9.3 | 9.4 |
| Rose Valley | — | — | — |
| Chester | D | 8.4 | 20.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Middletown Township and Rose Valley have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Parkside reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brookhaven | C | 1.1 | 23.5 |
| West Earl Township | A+ | 0.3 | 2.8 |
| Mount Joy | A | 0.4 | 3.6 |
| Gettysburg | B+ | 1.3 | 5.1 |
| North Coventry Township | B | 0.5 | 12.6 |
| Downingtown | C+ | 0.7 | 21.8 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Brookhaven’s population (8,362), 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 Brookhaven. 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 Brookhaven’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,435 in 2025); our figure for Brookhaven is 8,362 (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 Brookhaven
Is Brookhaven, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Brookhaven reports more crime per resident than 69% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #496 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 1.1 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 Brookhaven?
1.1 violent and 23.5 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 Brookhaven?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Brookhaven safer than Nether Providence Township?
Nether Providence Township reports less crime per resident than Brookhaven: Nether Providence Township grades A for safety and Brookhaven C. Nether Providence Township’s police reported 0.3 violent and 4.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Brookhaven?
Brookhaven’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Brookhaven”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Brookhaven.
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.