Photo: Vasiliymeshko · CC BY-SA 3.0Reported crime per resident in Nanticoke fell 30% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Nanticoke grades C+ for safety (#455 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Nanticoke
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 Pennsylvania towns on Nanticoke’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Newport Township (A), Hanover Township (B−). Plymouth 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 Nanticoke’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 21% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 43% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Nanticoke is home to Luzerne County Community College, with 3,643 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 8% 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 ↓
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 Nanticoke’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; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (1.8) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns. Its property rate (14.3) 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.
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Nanticoke property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Nanticoke violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 16.6 | 19.1 | 1.7 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 14.7 | 17.4 | 2.6 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 11.6 | 16.1 | 1.2 | 2.6 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Nanticoke’s police reported 59 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.8 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.9 in the rest of Pennsylvania and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Nanticoke | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.2 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 12 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
138 crimes reported in 2025
13 violent and 125 property, as reported to the FBI by Nanticoke’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Two people died in crashes on Nanticoke’s roads in 2019–2023
Nanticoke 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 Nanticoke’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Nanticoke’s own rate (3.8) 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.
Nanticoke and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nanticoke | C+ | 1.8 | 14.3 |
| Newport Township | A | 1.0 | 1.9 |
| Plymouth Township | — | — | — |
| Hanover Township | B− | 2.5 | 8.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Plymouth Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nanticoke | C+ | 1.8 | 14.3 |
| South Lebanon Township | A+ | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Upper Providence Township | A+ | 0.1 | 1.6 |
| East Brandywine Township | A+ | 0.2 | 2.3 |
| Northampton | A | 0.5 | 4.0 |
| Darby | D | 9.5 | 24.8 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Nanticoke’s population (10,712), by grade.
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 Nanticoke. 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 Nanticoke’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,759 in 2025); our figure for Nanticoke is 10,712 (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 Nanticoke
Is Nanticoke, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Nanticoke reports more crime per resident than 57% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #455 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 1.8 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 Nanticoke?
1.8 violent and 14.3 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 crime going up or down in Nanticoke?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Nanticoke safer than Newport Township?
Newport Township reports less crime per resident than Nanticoke: Newport Township grades A for safety and Nanticoke C+. Newport Township’s police reported 1.0 violent and 1.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Nanticoke?
Nanticoke’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Nanticoke”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Nanticoke.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.