Plains Township records less violent crime per head than 62% of U.S. towns
Of the 3 towns on its borders with figures, 2 record less crime per resident. Each year brought 1.2 violent crimes and 14.4 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (2.9 and 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania). Overall, Plains Township grades B− for safety (#431 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported 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 Plains Township
2 of the 3 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Pennsylvania towns on Plains Township’s borders, 3 have a Safety Grade: Forty Fort (A+), Kingston (B−), Wilkes-Barre (C−). Jenkins Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Bear Creek Township and Wyoming have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, lower
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Plains Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 25% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 48% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Plains Township has 11,899 jobs based in town for 10,010 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 Plains 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 Plains Township’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (14.4) 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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Plains Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.6 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Plains Township’s police reported 36 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.2 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 Plains 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Plains Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Plains Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 13.3 | 19.1 | 1.3 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 13.0 | 17.4 | 0.6 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 16.8 | 16.1 | 1.7 | 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.
186 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.
17 violent and 169 property, as reported to the FBI by Plains Township’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Plains Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Plains Township had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died. Most of these deaths (3 of 5) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
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 Plains Township’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Plains Township’s own rate (10.1) 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.
Plains Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plains Township | B− | 1.2 | 14.4 |
| Wilkes-Barre | C− | 4.2 | 15.3 |
| Jenkins Township | — | — | — |
| Forty Fort | A+ | 0.2 | 1.6 |
| Kingston | B− | 1.1 | 14.5 |
| Bear Creek Township | — | — | — |
| Wyoming | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Jenkins Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Bear Creek Township and Wyoming have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plains Township | B− | 1.2 | 14.4 |
| Bethel Township | A | 0.4 | 5.2 |
| Lower Swatara Township | A− | 1.5 | 3.0 |
| Mechanicsburg | B | 0.7 | 11.9 |
| Bristol | B | 0.8 | 13.2 |
| Middletown | B− | 3.4 | 5.2 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Plains Township’s population (10,010), 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 Plains 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 Plains Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,048 in 2025); our figure for Plains Township is 10,010 (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 Plains Township
Is Plains Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Plains Township reports more crime per resident than 52% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #431 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 1.2 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 Plains Township?
1.2 violent and 14.4 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 Plains Township safer than Wilkes-Barre?
Wilkes-Barre reports more crime per resident than Plains Township: Wilkes-Barre grades C− for safety and Plains Township B−. Wilkes-Barre’s police reported 4.2 violent and 15.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Plains Township?
Plains Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Plains Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Plains 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.