Photo: Nicholas · CC BY 2.0For violent crime, Meadville trails 88% of U.S. towns per resident
Year on year, 4.9 violent crimes and 13.3 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 2.9 and 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania. On top of that, its Safety Grade, C− (#521 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania), rests on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025: more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns.
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 Meadville
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 Pennsylvania towns on Meadville’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: West Mead Township (A+). Vernon Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, lower
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Meadville’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 10% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 23% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Meadville is home to Allegheny College, with 1,231 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 17% 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
Meadville has 7,651 jobs based in town for 12,230 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Meadville’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. Its property rate (13.3) 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.
Crime in Meadville 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 5 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Meadville | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 5.7 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.0 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 5.3 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Meadville’s police reported 234 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.9 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 is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Meadville property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Meadville violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 13.0 | 19.1 | 5.7 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 15.3 | 17.4 | 4.0 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 11.4 | 16.1 | 5.3 | 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.
292 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.
93 violent and 199 property, as reported to the FBI by Meadville’s police.
One person died in crashes on Meadville’s roads in 2019–2023
Meadville had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
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 Meadville’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Meadville’s own rate (1.6) 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.
Meadville and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meadville | C− | 4.9 | 13.3 |
| West Mead Township | A+ | 0.5 | 2.0 |
| Vernon Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Vernon Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meadville | C− | 4.9 | 13.3 |
| West Deer Township | A | 0.6 | 2.8 |
| Jefferson Hills | A− | 0.9 | 5.1 |
| Lower Gwynedd Township | B+ | 0.5 | 9.7 |
| St. Marys | B | 1.7 | 6.8 |
| Logan Township | B | 0.3 | 12.9 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Meadville’s population (12,230), 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 Meadville. 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 Meadville’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (17,415 in 2025); our figure for Meadville is 12,230 (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 Meadville
Is Meadville, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Meadville reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #521 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 4.9 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 Meadville?
4.9 violent and 13.3 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.
Is Meadville safer than West Mead Township?
West Mead Township reports less crime per resident than Meadville: West Mead Township grades A+ for safety and Meadville C−. West Mead Township’s police reported 0.5 violent and 2.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Meadville?
Meadville’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Meadville”. 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 Meadville.
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.