Photo: Shuvaev · CC BY-SA 3.0On violent crime, Palmer Township has a lower rate per resident than 88% of U.S. towns
The overall Safety Grade is B (#347 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania), which means less crime per resident than 63% of U.S. towns, judged on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Still, of the 6 towns on its borders with figures, 4 record less crime per resident. Behind the grade sit 0.4 violent crime and 12.0 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 2.9 and 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania. The crimes the grade counts fell 34% per resident from 2023 to 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 Palmer Township
4 of the 6 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 7 Pennsylvania towns on Palmer Township’s borders, 6 have a Safety Grade: Tatamy (A+), Forks Township (A), Upper Nazareth Township (A−), Bethlehem Township (B+), Easton (B), Wilson (C+). Lower Nazareth 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 Palmer Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 40% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 63% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Palmer 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 Palmer Township’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (12.0) 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Palmer Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Palmer Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 13.6 | 19.1 | 0.7 | 3.3 |
| 2024 | 13.2 | 17.4 | 0.4 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 9.3 | 16.1 | 0.1 | 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Palmer Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.1 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Palmer Township’s police reported 28 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.4 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 Palmer 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.
213 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.
3 violent and 210 property, as reported to the FBI by Palmer Township’s police.
Six people died in crashes on Palmer Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Palmer Township had 6 fatal crashes in five years, in which six 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 Palmer Township’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Palmer Township’s own rate (5.4) 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.
Palmer Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmer Township | B | 0.4 | 12.0 |
| Forks Township | A | 0.3 | 5.7 |
| Easton | B | 1.7 | 9.5 |
| Wilson | C+ | 1.4 | 15.3 |
| Tatamy | A+ | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Lower Nazareth Township | — | — | — |
| Bethlehem Township | B+ | 0.5 | 10.9 |
| Upper Nazareth Township | A− | 1.6 | 2.6 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Lower Nazareth Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmer Township | B | 0.4 | 12.0 |
| Peters Township | A− | 1.2 | 2.9 |
| Muhlenberg Township | B− | 0.6 | 15.7 |
| Carlisle | B− | 1.8 | 11.6 |
| Chambersburg | C | 3.9 | 16.5 |
| Pottstown | D | 7.4 | 33.1 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Palmer Township’s population (22,721), 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 Palmer 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 Palmer Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (22,687 in 2025); our figure for Palmer Township is 22,721 (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 Palmer Township
Is Palmer Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Palmer Township reports less crime per resident than 63% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #347 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 0.4 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 Palmer Township?
0.4 violent and 12.0 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 Palmer Township safer than Forks Township?
Forks Township reports less crime per resident than Palmer Township: Forks Township grades A for safety and Palmer Township B. Forks Township’s police reported 0.3 violent and 5.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Palmer Township?
Palmer Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Palmer Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Palmer 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.