Photo: Umrok · CC BY-SA 4.0Kingston has less violent crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns
One of the 3 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. Police counts work out at 1.1 violent crimes and 14.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of Pennsylvania they are 2.9 and 17.5. Overall, Kingston grades B− for safety (#424 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported in 2023–2025. The rate the grade counts held about level 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 Kingston
1 of the 3 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 Pennsylvania towns on Kingston’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Forty Fort (A+), Plains Township (B−), Wilkes-Barre (C−). Edwardsville 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 Kingston’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 ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Kingston’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Kingston’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (14.5) 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
Show as a table
| Year | Kingston | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.8 | 6.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Kingston’s police reported 49 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.
Crime in Kingston 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 1 violent crime, 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 | Kingston property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Kingston violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 14.5 | 30.3 | 0.8 | 6.9 |
| 2023 | 14.8 | 19.1 | 1.1 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 14.5 | 17.4 | 1.4 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 14.3 | 16.1 | 0.9 | 2.7 |
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, 2022–2025, against the rest of Pennsylvania.
219 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.
13 violent and 206 property, as reported to the FBI by Kingston’s police.
Eight people died in crashes on Kingston’s roads in 2019–2023
Kingston had 7 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
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 Kingston’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Kingston’s own rate (11.9) 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.
Kingston and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | B− | 1.1 | 14.5 |
| Wilkes-Barre | C− | 4.2 | 15.3 |
| Edwardsville | — | — | — |
| Forty Fort | A+ | 0.2 | 1.6 |
| Plains Township | B− | 1.2 | 14.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Edwardsville reported to the FBI for 2024 but not 2023 or 2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | B− | 1.1 | 14.5 |
| New Hanover Township | A | 0.2 | 3.2 |
| South Park Township | A | 0.2 | 3.2 |
| Amity Township | A | 0.6 | 3.9 |
| Bloomsburg | B− | 2.7 | 9.5 |
| Wilkinsburg | D | 6.4 | 20.6 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Kingston’s population (13,462), 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 Kingston. 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 Kingston’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (14,425 in 2025); our figure for Kingston is 13,462 (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 Kingston
Is Kingston, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Kingston reports more crime per resident than 51% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #424 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 Kingston?
1.1 violent and 14.5 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 Kingston safer than Wilkes-Barre?
Wilkes-Barre reports more crime per resident than Kingston: Wilkes-Barre grades C− for safety and Kingston B−. Wilkes-Barre’s police reported 4.2 violent and 15.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Kingston?
Kingston’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Kingston”. 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 Kingston.
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.