Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0State College sees less property crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns
From 2023 to 2025, crimes State College’s police reported put it at B for safety: #366 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania. Violence and property crime split as 1.6 violent crimes and 7.9 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 2.9 and 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania. Still, the crimes the grade counts rose 22% 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 State College
1 of the 1 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 Pennsylvania towns on State College’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Ferguson Township (A−). College 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 State College’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 37% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 61% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
State College is home to Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus, with 50,120 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 66% 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 rising
Crime reported per resident rose 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 State College’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; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | State College property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | State College violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 7.2 | 19.1 | 1.5 | 3.3 |
| 2024 | 7.6 | 17.4 | 1.5 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 8.9 | 16.1 | 1.7 | 2.7 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose 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 | State College | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.7 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
State College’s police reported 275 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.6 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 State College 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.
616 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. 2025 figures come from Pennsylvania State Police UCR, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
99 violent and 517 property, as reported to the FBI by State College’s police.
Two people died in crashes on State College’s roads in 2019–2023
State College had 2 fatal crashes in five years, in which two people died; 1 was a pedestrian and 1 was a cyclist.
That is fewer than is typical for Pennsylvania towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of State College’s size would see about 12 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so State College’s own rate (1.0) 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.
State College and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| State College | B | 1.6 | 7.9 |
| College Township | — | — | — |
| Ferguson Township | A− | 0.7 | 4.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. College Township has no FBI figures of its own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| State College | B | 1.6 | 7.9 |
| Northampton Township | A+ | 0.2 | 2.7 |
| Manheim Township | B+ | 0.7 | 7.8 |
| Altoona | C | 3.0 | 17.3 |
| Wilkes-Barre | C− | 4.2 | 15.3 |
| Cheltenham Township | D− | 2.6 | 61.6 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to State College’s population (40,844), 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 State College. 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 State College’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (57,940 in 2025); our figure for State College is 40,844 (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 State College
Is State College, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, State College reports less crime per resident than 61% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #366 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 1.6 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 State College?
1.6 violent and 7.9 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.
How many homicides were there in State College in 2025?
State College’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is State College safer than Ferguson Township?
Ferguson Township reports less crime per resident than State College: Ferguson Township grades A− for safety and State College B. Ferguson Township’s police reported 0.7 violent and 4.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices State College?
State College’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “State College Police Department”. 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 State College.
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.