Photo: Nimbesi · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, West Reading records more violent crime than 84% of U.S. towns
Its two neighbors with figures both record less crime per resident. Counting crimes West Reading’s police reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades C− for safety: #530 of 578 graded towns in Pennsylvania. Violence and property crime split as 4.3 violent crimes and 19.5 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 2.9 and 17.5 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 West Reading
2 of the 2 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 3 Pennsylvania towns on West Reading’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Wyomissing (C+), Reading (C). Cumru Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024. Neighbors ↓
A job center
West Reading has 8,241 jobs based in town for 4,590 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 West Reading’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 higher than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the closer of the two to typical.
Crime in West Reading 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 4 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | West Reading | Rest of Pennsylvania | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.8 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 4.4 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 3.7 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
West Reading’s police reported 59 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 4.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.9 in the rest of Pennsylvania and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | West Reading property | Rest of Pennsylvania property | West Reading violent | Rest of Pennsylvania violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 16.7 | 19.1 | 4.8 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 25.3 | 17.3 | 4.4 | 2.9 |
| 2025 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 3.7 | 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.
93 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 76 property, as reported to the FBI by West Reading’s police.
One person died in crashes on West Reading’s roads in 2019–2023
West Reading had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died; 1 was a pedestrian.
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 West Reading’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so West Reading’s own rate (4.4) 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.
West Reading and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Reading | C− | 4.3 | 19.5 |
| Reading | C | 3.5 | 14.7 |
| Cumru Township | — | — | — |
| Wyomissing | C+ | 0.8 | 20.4 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Cumru Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024.
Pennsylvania towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Reading | C− | 4.3 | 19.5 |
| Jackson Township | A+ | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| Sinking Spring | A | 0.5 | 5.0 |
| Avalon | B+ | 1.4 | 6.2 |
| Bridgeville | B | 1.7 | 7.0 |
| California | C | 4.0 | 10.4 |
The five graded Pennsylvania towns closest to West Reading’s population (4,590), 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 West Reading. 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 West Reading’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (4,613 in 2025); our figure for West Reading is 4,590 (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 West Reading
Is West Reading, PA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, West Reading reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade and #530 of 578 in Pennsylvania. Its police reported 4.3 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 West Reading?
4.3 violent and 19.5 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 West Reading safer than Reading?
Reading reports less crime per resident than West Reading: Reading grades C for safety and West Reading C−. Reading’s police reported 3.5 violent and 14.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices West Reading?
West Reading’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “West Reading”. 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 West Reading.
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.