Photo: Margaretta Lovell · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Sugarloaf Township records less crime than 79% of U.S. towns
For every 1,000 residents, 0.7 violent crime and 6.1 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of Pennsylvania, the figures are 2.9 and 17.5. On top of that, its Safety Grade is A−, on crimes Sugarloaf Township’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #231 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania.
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 Sugarloaf Township
Sugarloaf Township reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 5 Pennsylvania towns on Sugarloaf Township’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Butler Township (A−). Hollenback Township, Nescopeck Township, Hazle Township and Black Creek Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, closer to the middle
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Sugarloaf Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 60% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 79% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Sugarloaf Township is home to Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Hazleton, with 506 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 13% 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 ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Sugarloaf Township’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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Sugarloaf Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Sugarloaf Township’s police reported 8 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.7 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 Sugarloaf 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Sugarloaf Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Sugarloaf Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 7.1 | 19.1 | 0.5 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 6.8 | 17.4 | 1.3 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 4.4 | 16.1 | 0.2 | 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.
19 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.
1 violent and 18 property, as reported to the FBI by Sugarloaf Township’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Sugarloaf Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Sugarloaf Township had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died; 2 were pedestrians. 2 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is more than is typical for Pennsylvania towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Sugarloaf Township’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sugarloaf Township’s own rate (25.2) 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.
Sugarloaf Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugarloaf Township | A− | 0.7 | 6.1 |
| Butler Township | A− | 0.6 | 7.0 |
| Hollenback Township | — | — | — |
| Nescopeck Township | — | — | — |
| Hazle Township | — | — | — |
| Black Creek Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Hollenback Township, Nescopeck Township, Hazle Township and Black Creek Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugarloaf Township | A− | 0.7 | 6.1 |
| Jackson Township | A+ | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Manor Township | A | 0.3 | 2.9 |
| Armagh Township | A | 0.4 | 3.1 |
| Carroll Valley | A | 0.1 | 5.4 |
| Chester Township | C− | 4.0 | 17.8 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Sugarloaf Township’s population (4,068), 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 Sugarloaf 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 Sugarloaf Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,091 in 2025); our figure for Sugarloaf Township is 4,068 (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 Sugarloaf Township
Is Sugarloaf Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Sugarloaf Township reports less crime per resident than 79% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #231 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 0.7 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 Sugarloaf Township?
0.7 violent and 6.1 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 Sugarloaf Township safer than Butler Township?
Butler Township reports more crime per resident than Sugarloaf Township: Butler Township grades A− for safety and Sugarloaf Township A−. Butler Township’s police reported 0.6 violent and 7.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Sugarloaf Township?
Sugarloaf Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Sugarloaf Township, Luzerne County”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Sugarloaf 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.