Darby is a borough of 10,700 in Delaware County, about 6 miles southwest of downtown Philadelphia · Updated November 2026
Is Darby, PA safe?
Darby is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of F, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 95% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade F here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Darby run from C to F, so check the map below.
F
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 0 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
5% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Darby as a whole, and 95% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Darby scores 0.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Darby, PA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Darby, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Darby
Robberies are less common than in most F-graded cities. Darby has 1.2 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an F-graded US city, the figure is 3.1.
Car thefts run high. Darby has car thefts at about triple the US rate: 8.2 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Darby
High crime is widespread across Darby: 84% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Darby run from C to F; every part of Darby has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
16%84%
C 16%D or F 84%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Darby, the northwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Crime rates and types in Darby
CrimeGrade™ estimates Darby has about 56 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 52% more than the US as a whole and about double the rate for Pennsylvania.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Assault is the most common crime in Darby, about 34% of everything reported.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
The Darby Police Department reports to the FBI in a format that leaves out vandalism, so CrimeGrade™ makes its own vandalism estimate.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Darby compares with nearby cities
Darby has more crime than 9 of its 10 nearest cities. Glenolden and Primos have the least crime nearby.
Two things set Darby apart: it has 84% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally, and 26 buses and trains an hour at the evening rush, where most Americans have none nearby. Places like that tend to report more robbery and car theft, and they run high here.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.84% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 93% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Darby: C (35 of 100).26 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 93% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault.C+ (46 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 90% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.4.8 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 92% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.12.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 92% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Darby on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Darby
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Darby about $3,269 a year per household, more than double the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $50 million a year, or $4,642 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$4.6 million
$426
Rape
$320,000
$30
Robbery
$400,000
$38
Assault
$3.0 million
$277
Burglary
$230,000
$21
Theft
$850,000
$80
Vehicle theft
$1.4 million
$126
Arson
$29,000
$3
Vandalism
$690,000
$65
Total
$11 million
$1,065
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Darby means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Darby, PA average a SchoolGrade of F: 19% of students test proficient, against 17% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Darby on SchoolGrade
