The Allentown metro area, the 68th-largest in the US, is home to 873,600 residents in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; Allentown itself is the third-largest city in Pennsylvania · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in the Allentown area?
The Allentown area earns an A for violent crime, safer than the neighborhoods where 62% of Americans live. Assaults make up 94% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. The city of Allentown itself grades A- for violent crime.
A
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 900 of 1,000Less violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
62% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than the Allentown area as a whole, and 38% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. The Allentown area scores 900.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in Allentown, PA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in the Allentown area, 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 about violent crime in the Allentown area
Robberies run high in Eighth Ward, NoTi & Jordan Heights. In this part of north Allentown, they run at more than triple the rate in the rest of Allentown.
Aggravated assault runs low. The Allentown area has 0.94 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 2.6.
Where violent crime is lowest and highest in the Allentown area
Most of the Allentown area grades well for violent crime: 96% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Violent crime grades across the Allentown area run from A+ to C-.
96%
A or B 96%C 4%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Neighborhoods of Allentown
1Parkway Manor, Bungalow Park & Hamilton Park, southwestAggravated assaults run at a small fraction of the rate in the rest of Allentown.A+944
2Rose Garden, West End Theatre District & Hilltown, westSimple assaults run about 30% lower here than in the rest of Allentown.A921
3Fairview, Alton Park & Union Terrace, southSimple assaults run at about half the rate in the rest of Allentown.A886
7Eighth Ward, NoTi & Jordan Heights, northAggravated assaults run at more than double the rate in the rest of Allentown.B-587
Neighborhood areas of the city of Allentown, ranked by violent crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer). Each one combines several of the smaller areas on the map.
Cities and towns in the Allentown metro area with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by violent crime CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Violent crime rates and types in the Allentown area
CrimeGrade™ estimates the Allentown area has about 7.3 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 46% less than the US as a whole and 19% less than Pennsylvania.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in the Allentown area, about 94% of the total. Murder and rape are far rarer, but they account for 41% of the cost of violent crime here.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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.
Violent crime in the Allentown area and nearby metro areas
The Allentown area has less violent crime than 9 of its 10 nearest metro areas; only the Poughkeepsie area has less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from the Allentown area. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with metro areas of similar size and density, the Allentown area is safer than 95% of them.
The Allentown area looks like a typical metro area on the traits that tend to go with violent crime.
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.28% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 59% of Americans in metro areas
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for the Allentown area: D (14 of 100).3 trips an hourUS: noneLower than for 58% of Americans in metro areas
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 violent crime costs the Allentown area
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs the Allentown area about $485 million a year, or $556 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $112 million, or $128 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How the cost breaks down
Pain and suffering are about 77% of that full cost.
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$35 million
$40
Rape
$11 million
$12
Robbery
$5.1 million
$6
Assault
$61 million
$70
Total
$112 million
$128
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
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. These figures cover the whole Allentown metro area. 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.
