Ashley Planes · Photo: Russ Nelson · CC BY-SA 2.0Hanover Township records more violent crime per head than 66% of U.S. towns
Per 1,000 residents a year, 2.5 violent crimes and 8.7 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 2.9 and 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania. Its Safety Grade, B− (#424 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania), rests on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of U.S. towns. Next door, 2 of 5 towns with figures record less crime per resident.
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 Hanover Township
2 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Pennsylvania towns on Hanover Township’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Fairview Township (A+), Newport Township (A), Nanticoke (C+), Wilkes-Barre (C−), Plymouth (D). Plymouth Township and Bear Creek Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Larksville reported to the FBI for 2024 but not 2023 or 2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, lower
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Hanover Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 27% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 49% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Hanover Township has 9,638 jobs based in town for 11,781 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Hanover Township’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Property crime holds Hanover Township’s grade up; violent crime pulls it down. Its violent rate (2.5) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) 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
Show as a table
| Year | Hanover Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Hanover Township’s police reported 87 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.9 in the rest of Pennsylvania and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Hanover 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 about 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Hanover Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Hanover Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 9.9 | 19.1 | 2.6 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 8.1 | 17.4 | 2.5 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 8.2 | 16.1 | 2.4 | 2.6 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
125 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.
28 violent and 97 property, as reported to the FBI by Hanover Township’s police.
Nine people died in crashes on Hanover Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Hanover Township had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which nine people died; 4 were pedestrians. Most of these deaths (6 of 9) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
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 Hanover Township’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hanover Township’s own rate (15.6) 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.
Hanover Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanover Township | B− | 2.5 | 8.7 |
| Plymouth Township | — | — | — |
| Nanticoke | C+ | 1.8 | 14.3 |
| Plymouth | D | 10.2 | 23.7 |
| Fairview Township | A+ | 0.2 | 2.0 |
| Larksville | — | — | — |
| Bear Creek Township | — | — | — |
| Newport Township | A | 1.0 | 1.9 |
| Wilkes-Barre | C− | 4.2 | 15.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Plymouth Township and Bear Creek Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Larksville reported to the FBI for 2024 but not 2023 or 2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanover Township | B− | 2.5 | 8.7 |
| Lower Burrell | A | 0.8 | 3.2 |
| Elizabethtown | B+ | 1.5 | 5.9 |
| Sandy Township | B | 1.3 | 8.1 |
| Richland Township | C− | 1.1 | 28.1 |
| New Kensington | C− | 3.9 | 23.5 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Hanover Township’s population (11,781), 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 Hanover 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 Hanover Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (11,774 in 2025); our figure for Hanover Township is 11,781 (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 Hanover Township
Is Hanover Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Hanover Township reports more crime per resident than 51% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #424 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 2.5 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 Hanover Township?
2.5 violent and 8.7 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 Hanover Township safer than Nanticoke?
Nanticoke reports more crime per resident than Hanover Township: Nanticoke grades C+ for safety and Hanover Township B−. Nanticoke’s police reported 1.8 violent and 14.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Hanover Township?
Hanover Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Hanover Township, Luzerne County”. 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 Hanover 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.