Photo: User:Cards84664 · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Erie records more violent crime than 82% of U.S. towns
Next door, 2 of 3 towns with figures record less crime per resident. On top of that, on crimes Erie’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C− for safety: #525 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania. Police counts work out at 4.0 violent crimes and 19.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of Pennsylvania they 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 Erie
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 Pennsylvania towns on Erie’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Lawrence Park Township (B+), Millcreek Township (B), Wesleyville (C−). Harborcreek Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, lower
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Erie’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 9% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 21% 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 Erie’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.
Crime in Erie 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 | Erie | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6.1 | 6.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 5.1 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 3.8 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Erie’s police reported 1,109 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.0 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 per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Erie property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Erie violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 22.6 | 30.5 | 6.1 | 6.9 |
| 2023 | 18.7 | 19.1 | 5.1 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 19.3 | 17.3 | 3.8 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 20.2 | 16.0 | 3.1 | 2.6 |
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, 2022–2025, against the rest of Pennsylvania.
2,155 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.
290 violent and 1,865 property, as reported to the FBI by Erie’s police.
34 people died in crashes on Erie’s roads in 2019–2023
Erie had 34 fatal crashes in five years, in which 34 people died; 10 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 7.2 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.
Erie and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erie | C− | 4.0 | 19.4 |
| Millcreek Township | B | 2.0 | 7.5 |
| Wesleyville | C− | 1.8 | 28.4 |
| Lawrence Park Township | B+ | 2.4 | 1.0 |
| Harborcreek Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Harborcreek Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erie | C− | 4.0 | 19.4 |
| Bethlehem | C+ | 1.9 | 13.8 |
| Scranton | C | 3.1 | 13.5 |
| Allentown | C | 2.7 | 15.9 |
| Reading | C | 3.5 | 14.7 |
| Upper Darby Township | C− | 2.5 | 30.7 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Erie’s population (91,838), 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 Erie. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Erie’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (92,461 in 2025); our figure for Erie is 91,838 (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 Erie
Is Erie, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Erie reports more crime per resident than 79% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #525 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 4.0 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 Erie?
4.0 violent and 19.4 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.
How many homicides were there in Erie in 2025?
Erie’s police reported 4 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 4.3 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Erie safer than Millcreek Township?
Millcreek Township reports less crime per resident than Erie: Millcreek Township grades B for safety and Erie C−. Millcreek Township’s police reported 2.0 violent and 7.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Erie?
Erie’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Erie”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Erie.
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.