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.
To find the cities in Pennsylvania with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI crime data on murders for the 90 cities in the Keystone State with over 5,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Pennsylvania? The city with the highest murder rate in Pennsylvania is Charleroi Regional with 60 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Pennsylvania with highest number of murders? The city in Pennsylvania with the highest number of murders is Philadelphia with 262 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Pennsylvania ranked. There were ‘only’ 90 cities in Pennsylvania where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 342 places had no murder.
60 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
59 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
Located in
Delaware County, Pennsylvania
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
53 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
Located in
Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Uniontown is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, 46 miles southeast of Pittsburgh and part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 10,372 at the 2010 census, down from 12,422 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat and largest city of Fayette County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
47 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
Located in
Mercer County, Pennsylvania
Sharon is a city in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, in the United States, 75 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. It is part of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
34 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
Located in
Beaver County, Pennsylvania
Beaver Falls is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,987 at the 2010 census. It is located 31 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, and on the Beaver River, six miles north of its confluence with the Ohio River.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
34 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
Located in
Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
33 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
32 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
Located in
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
30 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
Located in
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
30 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate in Pennsylvania
Located in
Cambria County, Pennsylvania
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
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Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Pennsylvania’s statewide median.
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Where Pennsylvania’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: 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 wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we used Saturday Night Science to compare 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 in each city annually.
We only looked at 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 90 cities to rank.
We took the number of murders per capita as the ranking factor. The place with the most murders per capita based on the most recent data is Charleroi Regional. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Pennsylvania. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Pennsylvania
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charleroi Regional | 6,706 | 4 | 60 |
| 2 | Chester | 33,944 | 20 | 59 |
| 3 | Uniontown | 9,451 | 5 | 53 |
| 4 | Sharon | 12,709 | 6 | 47 |
| 5 | Beaver Falls | 11,696 | 4 | 34 |
| 6 | Collingdale | 8,813 | 3 | 34 |
| 7 | Stowe Township | 6,116 | 2 | 33 |
| 8 | McKeesport | 18,480 | 6 | 32 |
| 9 | Harrisburg | 49,985 | 15 | 30 |
| 10 | Johnstown | 20,120 | 6 | 30 |
| 11 | Folcroft | 6,717 | 2 | 30 |
| 12 | Carlisle | 23,144 | 5 | 22 |
| 13 | Coraopolis | 5,279 | 1 | 19 |
| 14 | Darby | 10,586 | 2 | 19 |
| 15 | Monongahela | 11,507 | 2 | 17 |
| 16 | Clairton | 5,877 | 1 | 17 |
| 17 | Philadelphia | 1,549,259 | 262 | 17 |
| 18 | Sharon Hill | 5,942 | 1 | 17 |
| 19 | Dickson City | 5,995 | 1 | 17 |
| 20 | Corry | 6,034 | 1 | 17 |
| 21 | Steelton | 6,322 | 1 | 16 |
| 22 | Allegheny Township, Blair County | 6,518 | 1 | 15 |
| 23 | Wilkinsburg | 13,646 | 2 | 15 |
| 24 | East Coventry Township | 7,188 | 1 | 14 |
| 25 | Ellwood City | 7,398 | 1 | 14 |
| 26 | Latrobe | 7,877 | 1 | 13 |
| 27 | Hatboro | 8,265 | 1 | 12 |
| 28 | Pocono Mountain Regional | 42,656 | 5 | 12 |
| 29 | Pittsburgh | 317,177 | 36 | 11 |
| 30 | Schuylkill Township, Chester County | 8,906 | 1 | 11 |
| 31 | West Caln Township | 8,968 | 1 | 11 |
| 32 | York | 44,893 | 5 | 11 |
| 33 | West Mifflin | 18,705 | 2 | 11 |
| 34 | Harrison Township | 9,671 | 1 | 10 |
| 35 | Morrisville | 9,675 | 1 | 10 |
| 36 | West Hills Regional | 9,795 | 1 | 10 |
| 37 | Plains Township | 9,911 | 1 | 10 |
| 38 | Buckingham Township | 20,736 | 2 | 10 |
| 39 | Nanticoke | 10,616 | 1 | 9 |
| 40 | New Castle | 21,252 | 2 | 9 |
| 41 | Scranton | 75,683 | 7 | 9 |
| 42 | Wilkes-Barre | 44,254 | 4 | 9 |
| 43 | Lansdowne | 11,071 | 1 | 9 |
| 44 | Chambersburg | 22,366 | 2 | 9 |
| 45 | New Kensington | 11,832 | 1 | 8 |
| 46 | Carbondale | 11,849 | 1 | 8 |
| 47 | Norristown | 35,764 | 3 | 8 |
| 48 | Butler | 12,973 | 1 | 8 |
| 49 | Clearfield Regional | 13,062 | 1 | 8 |
| 50 | Coatesville | 13,256 | 1 | 8 |
| 51 | Springettsbury Township | 27,604 | 2 | 7 |
| 52 | Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County | 27,762 | 2 | 7 |
| 53 | Reading | 97,868 | 7 | 7 |
| 54 | Lower Moreland Township | 14,124 | 1 | 7 |
| 55 | Indiana | 14,378 | 1 | 7 |
| 56 | Whitehall Township | 29,090 | 2 | 7 |
| 57 | Westtown-East Goshen Regional | 29,610 | 2 | 7 |
| 58 | Cecil Township | 15,206 | 1 | 7 |
| 59 | Southern Chester County Regional | 15,511 | 1 | 6 |
| 60 | Butler Township, Butler County | 16,682 | 1 | 6 |
| 61 | Elizabeth Township | 17,011 | 1 | 6 |
| 62 | Stroud Area Regional | 34,162 | 2 | 6 |
| 63 | Upper Saucon Township | 17,864 | 1 | 6 |
| 64 | Towamencin Township | 17,925 | 1 | 6 |
| 65 | Erie | 92,379 | 5 | 5 |
| 66 | Northern Lancaster County Regional | 41,609 | 2 | 5 |
| 67 | Springfield Township, Montgomery County | 21,044 | 1 | 5 |
| 68 | Upper Darby Township | 84,668 | 4 | 5 |
| 69 | West Goshen Township | 23,889 | 1 | 4 |
| 70 | Upper Moreland Township | 26,020 | 1 | 4 |
| 71 | Montgomery Township | 26,069 | 1 | 4 |
| 72 | Moon Township | 26,389 | 1 | 4 |
| 73 | East Lampeter Township | 26,615 | 1 | 4 |
| 74 | Shaler Township | 26,801 | 1 | 4 |
| 75 | East Hempfield Township | 27,135 | 1 | 4 |
| 76 | Upper Dublin Township | 27,382 | 1 | 4 |
| 77 | Spring Township, Berks County | 28,506 | 1 | 4 |
| 78 | Swatara Township | 29,394 | 1 | 3 |
| 79 | Allentown | 124,599 | 4 | 3 |
| 80 | Lower Merion Township | 64,290 | 2 | 3 |
| 81 | Lower Makefield Township | 33,400 | 1 | 3 |
| 82 | Northern Regional | 38,548 | 1 | 3 |
| 83 | Penn Hills | 39,203 | 1 | 3 |
| 84 | Bethlehem | 79,194 | 2 | 3 |
| 85 | Northampton Township | 39,879 | 1 | 3 |
| 86 | Altoona | 42,424 | 1 | 2 |
| 87 | Northern York County Regional | 90,901 | 2 | 2 |
| 88 | Middletown Township | 45,516 | 1 | 2 |
| 89 | Bensalem Township | 62,843 | 1 | 2 |
| 90 | York County Regional | 71,232 | 1 | 1 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 90 Pennsylvania cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Pennsylvania For 2026
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.
The cities with the highest murder per capita in Pennsylvania are Charleroi Regional, Chester, Uniontown, Sharon, Beaver Falls, Collingdale, Stowe Township, McKeesport, Harrisburg, and Johnstown.
