Photo: Gerry Dincher from Quincy, Illinois · CC BY-SA 2.0Recorded crime per resident in Watsontown fell 51% from 2023 to 2025
Overall, Watsontown grades B+ for safety: less crime per resident than 72% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported in 2023–2025. Typical years here bring 0.6 violent crime plus 8.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 2.9 plus 17.5 in the rest of Pennsylvania. Violent crime here is lower than in 81% of U.S. towns; property crime, lower than in 62%.
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 Watsontown
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 Watsontown’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 | Watsontown property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | Watsontown violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 11.7 | 19.1 | 1.4 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 6.8 | 17.4 | 0.5 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 6.4 | 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 | Watsontown | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.4 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Watsontown’s police reported 4 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.6 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 Watsontown 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.
14 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 14 property, as reported to the FBI by Watsontown’s police.
No one died in a crash on Watsontown’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what 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 Watsontown’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Watsontown’s own rate (0.0) 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.
Watsontown and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watsontown | B+ | 0.6 | 8.3 |
| Delaware Township | — | — | — |
| White Deer Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Delaware Township and White Deer Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watsontown | B+ | 0.6 | 8.3 |
| Pine Grove | A+ | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Upper Burrell Township | A | 0.3 | 3.9 |
| Geistown | A | 0.9 | 2.9 |
| Hughesville | A | 0.3 | 5.0 |
| Southwest Greensburg | B+ | 1.7 | 4.3 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to Watsontown’s population (2,188), 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 Watsontown. 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 Watsontown’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,199 in 2025); our figure for Watsontown is 2,188 (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 Watsontown
Is Watsontown, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Watsontown reports less crime per resident than 72% of U.S. towns, a B+ Safety Grade. Its police reported 0.6 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 Watsontown?
0.6 violent and 8.3 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 Watsontown?
Watsontown’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Watsontown”. 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 Watsontown.
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.