Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Pennsylvania?
We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.
So we wanted to get the facts straight and dug into the FBI crime data in order to identify the places with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita in Pennsylvania.
The result is the 10 Murder Capitals of the Keystone State for 2019:
- Chester (Photos)
- McKeesport (Photos)
- Johnstown (Photos)
- Swissvale (Photos)
- York (Photos)
- Philadelphia (Photos)
- Punxsutawney (Photos)
- Harrisburg (Photos)
- Solebury Township
- Pittsburgh (Photos)
The city with highest murder rate in Pennsylvania? That would be Chester with 85.3 murders per 100,000 people.
While the city with highest number of murders period? Philadelphia with 316.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked. There were ‘only’ 104 cities in Pennsylvania where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 343 places had no murder.
If you’re curious, here are the places in Pennsylvania which had the least murder chances for its residents, based on population: Upper Darby Township, Scranton, Bensalem Township, Lower Paxton Township, Cranberry Township.
For more reading on the Keystone State check out:
- 10 Best Places To Live In Pennsylvania
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Pennsylvania
- 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Pennsylvania
How we calculated the murder capitals of Pennsylvania
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we didn’t want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report which summarizes the number of murders that may happen in each city per year.
We only looked every single city in Pennsylvania for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 104 cities to rank.
Finally, averaged two scores:
- The raw number of murders in each city
- The murders per person
We felt as if a small place with 2,500 people and two murders makes it a lot more dangerous than a city of 25,000 people with one murder.
We must note that this report is not an analysis of the effectiveness of local police departments. It simply states where murders occurred most frequently.
Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 33,972 at the 2010 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester sits on the western bank of the Delaware River between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, 43 miles west-southwest of Altoona and 67 miles east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census and estimated to be 20,402 in 2013. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County.
Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 9 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh. Named for a farmstead owned by James Swisshelm, during the industrial age it was the site of the Union Switch and Signal Company of George Westinghouse. The population was 8,983 at the 2010 census. In 1940, 15,919 people lived there.
York, known as the White Rose City, is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States, located in the south-central region of the state. The population within York’s city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862. When combined with the adjacent boroughs of West York and North York and surrounding Spring Garden, West Manchester, and Springettsbury townships, the population of Greater York was 108,386. York is the 11th largest city in Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with an estimated population of 1,567,872 and more than 6million in the seventh-largest metropolitan statistical area, as of 2016. Philadelphia is the economic and cultural anchor of the Delaware Valley region, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. The region’s population of 7.2million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.
Punxsutawney ; Lenape: Punkwsutnay) is a borough in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, United States, 84 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 48,904, it is the ninth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, 107 miles west of Philadelphia.
9. Solebury Township
Population: 8,583
Rank Last Year: 381
Murders: 4 (16th Most)
Murders Per 100k: 46.6 (6th Most)
More on Solebury Township:
Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. As of 2017, a total population of 305,704 lives within the city limits, making it the 63rd-largest city in the U.S. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U.S.
There You Have It – The Places With The Most Murders In Pennsylvania For 2019
If you’re looking at the places in Pennsylvania with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.
For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Pennsylvania
- These Are The 10 Fastest Growing Cities In Pennsylvania
- 10 Safest Places In Pennsylvania
- 10 Best Cities For Singles In Pennsylvania
- 10 Worst Places To Live In Pennsylvania
Detailed List Of The Places With The Most Murder In Pennsylvania For 2019
| Rank | City | Murders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chester, PA | 29 |
| 2 | McKeesport, PA | 13 |
| 3 | Johnstown, PA | 9 |
| 4 | Swissvale, PA | 5 |
| 5 | York, PA | 14 |
| 6 | Philadelphia, PA | 316 |
| 7 | Punxsutawney, PA | 4 |
| 8 | Harrisburg, PA | 13 |
| 9 | Solebury Township, PA | 4 |
| 10 | Pittsburgh, PA | 55 |
| 11 | Swatara Township, PA | 6 |
| 12 | Darby, PA | 4 |
| 13 | McKees Rocks, PA | 3 |
| 14 | West Brandywine Township, PA | 3 |
| 15 | Uniontown, PA | 3 |
| 16 | Allentown, PA | 16 |
| 17 | Steelton, PA | 2 |
| 18 | Wilkins Township, PA | 2 |
| 19 | Aliquippa, PA | 2 |
| 20 | Penn Hills, PA | 5 |
| 21 | Elizabethtown, PA | 2 |
| 22 | Reading, PA | 9 |
| 23 | Butler, PA | 2 |
| 24 | Sharon, PA | 2 |
| 25 | Norristown, PA | 4 |
| 26 | Indiana, PA | 2 |
| 27 | Lancaster, PA | 5 |
| 28 | Phoenixville, PA | 2 |
| 29 | Stroud Area Regional, PA | 3 |
| 30 | West Manchester Township, PA | 2 |
| 31 | Erie, PA | 6 |
| 32 | Chambersburg, PA | 2 |
| 33 | Kutztown, PA | 1 |
| 34 | Palmer Township, PA | 2 |
| 35 | Schuylkill Haven, PA | 1 |
| 36 | Duquesne, PA | 1 |
| 37 | West Goshen Township, PA | 2 |
| 38 | Mount Carmel, PA | 1 |
| 39 | Plymouth, PA | 1 |
| 40 | Pocono Mountain Regional, PA | 3 |
| 41 | Bethlehem Township, PA | 2 |
| 42 | Somerset, PA | 1 |
| 43 | Franklin, PA | 1 |
| 44 | Bellefonte, PA | 1 |
| 45 | Cumberland Township, Greene County, PA | 1 |
| 46 | Haverford Township, PA | 3 |
| 47 | Lebanon, PA | 2 |
| 48 | East Coventry Township, PA | 1 |
| 49 | Tamaqua, PA | 1 |
| 50 | Archbald, PA | 1 |
| 51 | Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, PA | 1 |
| 52 | Williamsport, PA | 2 |
| 53 | Ellwood City, PA | 1 |
| 54 | Pittston, PA | 1 |
| 55 | Spring Township, Centre County, PA | 1 |
| 56 | Latrobe, PA | 1 |
| 57 | North Coventry Township, PA | 1 |
| 58 | Kennedy Township, PA | 1 |
| 59 | Northern York Regional, PA | 3 |
| 60 | Susquehanna Regional, PA | 1 |
| 61 | Upper Makefield Township, PA | 1 |
| 62 | Carbondale, PA | 1 |
| 63 | Morrisville, PA | 1 |
| 64 | Jeannette, PA | 1 |
| 65 | Central Berks Regional, PA | 1 |
| 66 | Wilkes-Barre, PA | 2 |
| 67 | Berwick, PA | 1 |
| 68 | Nanticoke, PA | 1 |
| 69 | West Hills Regional, PA | 1 |
| 70 | Hanover Township, Luzerne County, PA | 1 |
| 71 | Northeastern Regional, PA | 1 |
| 72 | Richland Township, Cambria County, PA | 1 |
| 73 | New Kensington, PA | 1 |
| 74 | Buffalo Valley Regional, PA | 1 |
| 75 | Meadville, PA | 1 |
| 76 | Coatesville, PA | 1 |
| 77 | Richland Township, Bucks County, PA | 1 |
| 78 | Washington, Washington County, PA | 1 |
| 79 | Nether Providence Township, PA | 1 |
| 80 | Hilltown Township, PA | 1 |
| 81 | Hermitage, PA | 1 |
| 82 | West Hempfield Township, PA | 1 |
| 83 | Butler Township, Butler County, PA | 1 |
| 84 | Upper Saucon Township, PA | 1 |
| 85 | Lancaster Township, Lancaster County, PA | 1 |
| 86 | Southwestern Regional, PA | 1 |
| 87 | Plymouth Township, Montgomery County, PA | 1 |
| 88 | Carlisle, PA | 1 |
| 89 | Whitpain Township, PA | 1 |
| 90 | Baldwin Borough, PA | 1 |
| 91 | Northwest Lancaster County Regional, PA | 1 |
| 92 | Muhlenberg Township, PA | 1 |
| 93 | Hatfield Township, PA | 1 |
| 94 | East Pennsboro Township, PA | 1 |
| 95 | Pottstown, PA | 1 |
| 96 | Hazleton, PA | 1 |
| 97 | Plum, PA | 1 |
| 98 | Whitehall Township, PA | 1 |
| 99 | McCandless, PA | 1 |
| 100 | Cranberry Township, PA | 1 |
