Photo: Nyttend · Public domainLancaster Township has less crime per resident than almost every U.S. town
On violence it beats 98% of U.S. towns, and on property crime 99%. What’s more, that puts it at A+ for safety, judged on crimes Lancaster Township’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #6 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania. Each year brought 0.4 incident of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania.
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 Lancaster Township
Lancaster Township reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 4 Pennsylvania towns on Lancaster Township’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Franklin Township (A), Jackson Township (A−). Connoquenessing Township and Muddy Creek Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Lancaster Township’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Crime in Lancaster 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 no 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 | Lancaster Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Lancaster Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.3 | 19.1 | 0.0 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 17.4 | 0.0 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 0.3 | 16.1 | 0.0 | 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.
1 crime 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.
0 violent and 1 property, as reported to the FBI by Lancaster Township’s police.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Lancaster Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.0 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lancaster Township’s police reported 0 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.9 in the rest of Pennsylvania and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Two people died in crashes on Lancaster Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Lancaster Township had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died. Most of these deaths (1 of 2) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is about what is typical for Pennsylvania towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Lancaster Township’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lancaster Township’s own rate (12.5) 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.
Lancaster Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster Township | A+ | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Connoquenessing Township | — | — | — |
| Franklin Township | A | 0.2 | 3.4 |
| Muddy Creek Township | — | — | — |
| Jackson Township | A− | 1.5 | 1.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Connoquenessing Township and Muddy Creek Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster Township | A+ | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Tulpehocken Township | A+ | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Zelienople | A+ | 0.4 | 2.2 |
| Irwin | A | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| Sewickley | A− | 0.1 | 7.6 |
| Tilden Township | B− | 0.5 | 18.2 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Lancaster Township’s population (3,734), 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (3,828 in 2025); our figure for Lancaster Township is 3,734 (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 Lancaster Township
Is Lancaster Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lancaster Township reports less crime per resident than 99% of U.S. towns, an A+ Safety Grade and #6 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 0.0 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 Lancaster Township?
0.0 violent and 0.4 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 Lancaster Township safer than Franklin Township?
Franklin Township reports more crime per resident than Lancaster Township: Franklin Township grades A for safety and Lancaster Township A+. Franklin Township’s police reported 0.2 violent and 3.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lancaster Township?
Lancaster Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lancaster Township, Butler County”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Lancaster 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.