Photo: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Palmerton records less violent crime than 92% of U.S. towns
Its police logs show 0.3 violent crime and 6.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the rest of Pennsylvania the numbers are 2.9 and 17.5. Overall, Palmerton grades A− for safety (#207 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): less crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported in 2023–2025. Per resident, the graded crimes were down 39% 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 Palmerton
Among Pennsylvania towns, closer to the middle
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Palmerton’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 64% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 82% 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 Palmerton’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; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Palmerton property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Palmerton violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 7.8 | 19.1 | 0.7 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 6.9 | 17.4 | 0.2 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 5.1 | 16.1 | 0.0 | 2.6 |
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 | Palmerton | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Palmerton’s police reported 5 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.3 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 Palmerton 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 no violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
29 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.
0 violent and 29 property, as reported to the FBI by Palmerton’s police.
Two people died in crashes on Palmerton’s roads in 2019–2023
Palmerton had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people 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 Palmerton’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Palmerton’s own rate (7.1) 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.
Palmerton and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmerton | A− | 0.3 | 6.6 |
| Lower Towamensing Township | — | — | — |
| East Penn Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Lower Towamensing Township and East Penn Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmerton | A− | 0.3 | 6.6 |
| Scott Township | B+ | 0.4 | 9.5 |
| Cambria Township | B+ | 0.9 | 7.7 |
| Shippensburg | B | 0.8 | 9.9 |
| Mount Carmel | B− | 1.2 | 14.1 |
| McKees Rocks | D | 6.3 | 38.7 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Palmerton’s population (5,615), 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 Palmerton. 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 Palmerton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,644 in 2025); our figure for Palmerton is 5,615 (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 Palmerton
Is Palmerton, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Palmerton reports less crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #207 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 0.3 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 Palmerton?
0.3 violent and 6.6 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.
Who polices Palmerton?
Palmerton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Palmerton”. 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 Palmerton.
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.