Photo: Ted Van Pelt · CC BY 2.0Harrisburg reports more crime per resident than nine in ten U.S. towns
All 4 towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Scored on crimes Harrisburg’s police reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on D for safety: #560 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania. Violence and property crime split as 8.2 violent crimes and 19.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 2.9 and 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania. The crimes the grade counts fell 21% per resident from 2023 to 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 Harrisburg
4 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 7 Pennsylvania towns on Harrisburg’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: East Pennsboro Township (A−), New Cumberland (A−), Susquehanna Township (B−), Swatara Township (C). Wormleysburg, Lemoyne and Paxtang have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
A college town
Harrisburg is home to Harrisburg Area Community College, with 6,841 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 ↓
A job center
Harrisburg has 51,988 jobs based in town for 50,522 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. 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 Harrisburg’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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Harrisburg property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Harrisburg violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 20.0 | 19.1 | 10.6 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 19.9 | 17.3 | 7.6 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 18.0 | 16.0 | 6.3 | 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, 2023–2025, against the rest of Pennsylvania.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Harrisburg | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 10.6 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 7.6 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 6.3 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Harrisburg’s police reported 1,235 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 8.2 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 Harrisburg 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 6 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
1,235 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.
320 violent and 915 property, as reported to the FBI by Harrisburg’s police.
35 people died in crashes on Harrisburg’s roads in 2019–2023
Harrisburg had 32 fatal crashes in five years, in which 35 people died; 10 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists. 5 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 13.9 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.
Harrisburg and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harrisburg | D | 8.2 | 19.3 |
| Susquehanna Township | B− | 1.8 | 10.1 |
| East Pennsboro Township | A− | 0.7 | 5.7 |
| Wormleysburg | — | — | — |
| Lemoyne | — | — | — |
| Swatara Township | C | 1.6 | 25.1 |
| New Cumberland | A− | 0.9 | 5.7 |
| Paxtang | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Wormleysburg, Lemoyne and Paxtang have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harrisburg | D | 8.2 | 19.3 |
| Manheim Township | B+ | 0.7 | 7.8 |
| Haverford Township | B+ | 0.2 | 10.6 |
| Millcreek Township | B | 2.0 | 7.5 |
| Bristol Township | C+ | 1.6 | 15.6 |
| York | C− | 5.0 | 18.7 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Harrisburg’s population (50,522), 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 Harrisburg. 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 Harrisburg’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (50,789 in 2025); our figure for Harrisburg is 50,522 (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 Harrisburg
Is Harrisburg, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Harrisburg reports more crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade and #560 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 8.2 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 Harrisburg?
8.2 violent and 19.3 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 Harrisburg in 2025?
Harrisburg’s police reported 11 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 21.7 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Harrisburg safer than Susquehanna Township?
Susquehanna Township reports less crime per resident than Harrisburg: Susquehanna Township grades B− for safety and Harrisburg D. Susquehanna Township’s police reported 1.8 violent and 10.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Harrisburg?
Harrisburg’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Harrisburg”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Harrisburg.
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.