Eighth Ward is a neighborhood of 6,850 residents in Allentown, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Eighth Ward in Allentown safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B-, Eighth Ward has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 79% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades B- and property crime C+. Allentown as a whole grades A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Eighth Ward run from B to F, so check the map below.
B-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 562 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
21% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Eighth Ward as a whole, and 79% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Eighth Ward scores 562.
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 Eighth Ward, Allentown, PA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Eighth Ward in Allentown, 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
Crime rates and types in Eighth Ward
CrimeGrade™ estimates Eighth Ward has about 35 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as the US as a whole and 16% more than Allentown as a whole.
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.
The largest share of crime reported in Eighth Ward is assault, about 37% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
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.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Eighth Ward compares with nearby neighborhoods
Of the 10 neighborhoods closest to Eighth Ward, 6 have less crime. West End Theatre District and West Park have the least.
Two things set Eighth Ward apart: it has 13 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 0.3 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft and robbery, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.13 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 83% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.3 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 77% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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.B (64 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 74% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.88% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 73% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 Eighth Ward
Crime costs Eighth Ward about $1,391 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 15% more than 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 $9.9 million a year, or $1,444 per resident.
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 Eighth Ward 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. Eighth Ward is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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 Eighth Ward, Allentown, PA average a SchoolGrade of D: 35% of students test proficient, against 29% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Eighth Ward on SchoolGrade
