Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Recorded crime per resident in Lower Swatara Township rose 132% from 2023 to 2025
Each of the 7 towns on its borders with figures records more crime per resident. Overall, it grades A− for safety (#239 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania). What’s more, in a usual year, 1.5 violent crimes and 3.0 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of Pennsylvania, 2.9 and 17.5.
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 Swatara Township
Lower Swatara Township reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 8 Pennsylvania towns on Lower Swatara Township’s borders, 7 have a Safety Grade: Fairview Township (A−), Derry Township (B), Newberry Township (B), Middletown (B−), Highspire (B−), Swatara Township (C), Steelton (D). Londonderry Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, closer to the middle
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Lower Swatara Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 59% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 78% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Lower Swatara Township has 12,529 jobs based in town for 10,043 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 Swatara 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Lower Swatara Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Lower Swatara Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.4 | 19.1 | 1.0 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 3.9 | 17.4 | 1.5 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 3.6 | 16.1 | 2.1 | 2.6 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose 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 | Lower Swatara Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.0 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Lower Swatara Township’s police reported 46 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.5 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 Lower Swatara 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.
57 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.
21 violent and 36 property, as reported to the FBI by Lower Swatara Township’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Lower Swatara Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Lower Swatara Township had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what 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 Lower Swatara Township’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lower Swatara Township’s own rate (4.1) 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.
Lower Swatara Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Swatara Township | A− | 1.5 | 3.0 |
| Highspire | B− | 2.5 | 11.0 |
| Derry Township | B | 1.1 | 9.2 |
| Middletown | B− | 3.4 | 5.2 |
| Swatara Township | C | 1.6 | 25.1 |
| Fairview Township | A− | 0.9 | 5.8 |
| Londonderry Township | — | — | — |
| Newberry Township | B | 1.1 | 9.7 |
| Steelton | D | 9.4 | 15.1 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Londonderry Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Swatara Township | A− | 1.5 | 3.0 |
| Butler Township | A− | 0.6 | 7.0 |
| Mechanicsburg | B | 0.7 | 11.9 |
| Bristol | B | 0.8 | 13.2 |
| Plains Township | B− | 1.2 | 14.4 |
| Munhall | B− | 1.6 | 13.1 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Lower Swatara Township’s population (10,043), 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 Swatara 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 Lower Swatara Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,130 in 2025); our figure for Lower Swatara Township is 10,043 (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 Swatara Township
Is Lower Swatara Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Lower Swatara Township reports less crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #239 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 1.5 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 Lower Swatara Township?
1.5 violent and 3.0 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.
Is Lower Swatara Township safer than Highspire?
Highspire reports more crime per resident than Lower Swatara Township: Highspire grades B− for safety and Lower Swatara Township A−. Highspire’s police reported 2.5 violent and 11.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Lower Swatara Township?
Lower Swatara Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Lower Swatara Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Lower Swatara 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.