Steelton High School · Photo: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ. M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Property crime per resident is higher in Swatara Township than in 86% of U.S. towns
Next door, 4 of 5 towns with figures record less crime per resident. The rate the grade counts dropped 19% from 2023 to 2025. In sum, crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025 put Swatara Township at C (#513 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania): more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns. Each year brought 1.6 violent crimes and 25.1 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (2.9 and 17.4 in the rest of 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 Swatara Township
4 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 Pennsylvania towns on Swatara Township’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Lower Swatara Township (A−), New Cumberland (A−), Fairview Township (A−), Derry Township (B), Steelton (D). South Hanover Township and Paxtang have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Lower Paxton Township reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Neighbors ↓
Among Pennsylvania towns, lower
Pennsylvania’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Swatara Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 11% of the 578 Pennsylvania towns we grade, against 25% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Swatara Township has 18,371 jobs based in town for 27,936 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
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 Swatara 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 Swatara Township’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Swatara Township property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Swatara Township violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 26.6 | 19.0 | 1.7 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 27.6 | 17.3 | 1.5 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 21.3 | 16.0 | 1.5 | 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 | Swatara Township | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Swatara Township’s police reported 141 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 Swatara 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.
676 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.
45 violent and 631 property, as reported to the FBI by Swatara Township’s police.
10 people died in crashes on Swatara Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Swatara Township had 9 fatal crashes in five years, in which 10 people died; 2 were pedestrians. 4 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 7.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Pennsylvania towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.7, 67 towns).
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.
Swatara Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swatara Township | C | 1.6 | 25.1 |
| Steelton | D | 9.4 | 15.1 |
| Fairview Township | A− | 0.9 | 5.8 |
| Lower Swatara Township | A− | 1.5 | 3.0 |
| South Hanover Township | — | — | — |
| Paxtang | — | — | — |
| Lower Paxton Township | — | — | — |
| New Cumberland | A− | 0.9 | 5.7 |
| Derry Township | B | 1.1 | 9.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. South Hanover Township and Paxtang have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Lower Paxton Township reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swatara Township | C | 1.6 | 25.1 |
| McCandless Township | A− | 0.8 | 6.5 |
| Horsham Township | B+ | 0.5 | 8.4 |
| Susquehanna Township | B− | 1.8 | 10.1 |
| Springettsbury Township | C+ | 1.1 | 20.8 |
| Monroeville | C | 1.4 | 23.3 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Swatara Township’s population (27,936), 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 Swatara 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 Swatara Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (29,687 in 2025); our figure for Swatara Township is 27,936 (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 Swatara Township
Is Swatara Township, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Swatara Township reports more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #513 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 Swatara Township?
1.6 violent and 25.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Pennsylvania reports 2.9 and 17.4; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
How many homicides were there in Swatara Township in 2025?
Swatara Township’s police reported 1 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 3.4 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Swatara Township safer than Steelton?
Steelton reports more crime per resident than Swatara Township: Steelton grades D for safety and Swatara Township C. Steelton’s police reported 9.4 violent and 15.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Swatara Township?
Swatara Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Swatara Township”. 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 Swatara 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.