Photo: Jakec · CC BY-SA 4.0Coal Township reports less violent crime than most U.S. towns, but more property crime
Overall, Coal Township grades B for safety (#385 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): close to the middle 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 Coal Township
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 Pennsylvania towns on Coal Township’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Ralpho Township (A+), Mount Carmel Township (A). Shamokin Township and Cleveland Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Zerbe Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, closer to the middle
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Coal Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 33% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 57% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Coal Township’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Coal Township’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (12.4) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Coal Township’s police reported 23 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.8 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 | Coal Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.6 | 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 10 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.
Reported crime is steady
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Coal Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Coal Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 14.0 | 19.1 | 0.8 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 13.4 | 17.4 | 0.6 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 9.7 | 16.1 | 1.0 | 2.6 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
103 crimes reported in 2025
10 violent and 93 property, as reported to the FBI by Coal 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.
Four people died in crashes on Coal Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Coal Township had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died.
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 Coal Township’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Coal Township’s own rate (8.2) 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.
Coal Township and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coal Township | B | 0.8 | 12.4 |
| Ralpho Township | A+ | 0.0 | 3.6 |
| Shamokin Township | — | — | — |
| Cleveland Township | — | — | — |
| Zerbe Township | — | — | — |
| Mount Carmel Township | A | 0.5 | 4.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Shamokin Township and Cleveland Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Zerbe Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coal Township | B | 0.8 | 12.4 |
| Lititz | A | 0.4 | 4.0 |
| Bethel Township | A | 0.4 | 5.2 |
| Harrison Township | A− | 0.8 | 6.8 |
| Middletown | B− | 3.4 | 5.2 |
| South Strabane Township | D | 1.0 | 41.9 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Coal Township’s population (9,721), 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 Coal 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 Coal Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (9,554 in 2025); our figure for Coal Township is 9,721 (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 Coal Township
Is Coal Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Coal Township reports less crime per resident than 57% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #385 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 0.8 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 Coal Township?
0.8 violent and 12.4 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 Coal Township?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Coal Township safer than Ralpho Township?
Ralpho Township reports less crime per resident than Coal Township: Ralpho Township grades A+ for safety and Coal Township B. Ralpho Township’s police reported 0.0 violent and 3.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Coal Township?
Coal Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Coal Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Coal 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.