Photo: Ii2nmd · CC BY-SA 4.0Lower Merion Township sees less violent crime per resident than four in five U.S. towns
Lower Merion Township’s overall Safety Grade is B− (#419 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Violence and property crime split as 0.6 violent crime and 16.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 2.9 and 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania. Add to that, the graded rate fell 11% from 2023 to 2025. 4 of the 7 towns next door 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 Lower Merion Township
4 of the 7 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 7 Pennsylvania towns on Lower Merion Township’s borders, 7 have a Safety Grade: Radnor Township (A−), Whitemarsh Township (A−), Conshohocken (B+), Haverford Township (B+), West Conshohocken (C), Upper Merion Township (C−), Philadelphia (D−). Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, closer to the middle
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Lower Merion Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 28% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 50% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Lower Merion Township has 48,298 jobs based in town for 64,691 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 Lower Merion Township’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Lower Merion Township’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (16.0) 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 | Lower Merion Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.7 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lower Merion Township’s police reported 117 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.6 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 | Lower Merion Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Lower Merion Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 15.9 | 19.1 | 0.7 | 3.3 |
| 2024 | 18.0 | 17.3 | 0.7 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 14.3 | 16.1 | 0.4 | 2.7 |
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.
Crime in Lower Merion 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
956 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 928 property, as reported to the FBI by Lower Merion Township’s police.
15 people died in crashes on Lower Merion Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Lower Merion Township had 13 fatal crashes in five years, in which 15 people died; 8 were pedestrians. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 4.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below 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.
Lower Merion Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Merion Township | B− | 0.6 | 16.0 |
| Philadelphia | D− | 9.0 | 46.4 |
| Haverford Township | B+ | 0.2 | 10.6 |
| Radnor Township | A− | 0.8 | 6.3 |
| West Conshohocken | C | 4.0 | 14.7 |
| Whitemarsh Township | A− | 0.5 | 7.1 |
| Upper Merion Township | C− | 0.9 | 35.0 |
| Conshohocken | B+ | 0.4 | 9.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Merion Township | B− | 0.6 | 16.0 |
| Millcreek Township | B | 2.0 | 7.5 |
| Bristol Township | C+ | 1.6 | 15.6 |
| Abington Township | C+ | 0.9 | 20.4 |
| Scranton | C | 3.1 | 13.5 |
| Bensalem Township | C | 0.9 | 26.7 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Lower Merion Township’s population (64,691), 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 Lower Merion Township. 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 Lower Merion Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (64,974 in 2025); our figure for Lower Merion Township is 64,691 (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 Lower Merion Township
Is Lower Merion Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lower Merion Township reports less crime per resident than 50% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #419 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 0.6 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 Lower Merion Township?
0.6 violent and 16.0 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 Lower Merion Township in 2025?
Lower Merion Township’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Lower Merion Township safer than Philadelphia?
Philadelphia reports more crime per resident than Lower Merion Township: Philadelphia grades D− for safety and Lower Merion Township B−. Philadelphia’s police reported 9.0 violent and 46.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lower Merion Township?
Lower Merion Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lower Merion Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Lower Merion 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.