The Philadelphia Region’s Most Dangerous Places (and its Safest)

Find out where you’re most and least likely to be a victim of crime — at least according to data from

Philadelphia regional map with push pin

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What is the most crime-ridden municipality in the Philadelphia area? Surprise! It’s not Philadelphia. Not even close. In fact, according to the website, Cape May, New Jersey, has more crime per capita than Philly.

NeighborhoodScout.Com, which advertises that it has “enterprise-grade data for every neighborhood in America,” rates every city, town, borough and neighborhood in several categories on a scale of 1 to 100. The number of violent crimes and property crimes per 1,000 people determines the crime rate. The municipalities with the most crime get a 1; the ones with the least crime get a 100. For instance, Philadelphia with 50.70 violent and property crimes per thousand people gets a 9. Not particularly safe, but compare that to quaint Cape May: its 56.31 crimes per thousand rates it a 7.

You can go to the site and click on any town to get the statistics. I checked South Jersey, North Delaware and Southeastern Pennsylvania to come up with the list of the municipalities in the region where you are most likely and least likely to be a victim of crime.

Let’s start with the safest:

Rating (0-100)
1King of PrussiaPA99
3Chester SpringsPA95
7Washington CrossingPA89
10Bryn AthynPA85

And now the most dangerous

Rating (0-100)
2Atlantic CityNJ1
5New CastleDE3
10Marcus HookPA6

I should point out that the crime statistics are dependent on accurate reporting from the municipalities themselves, which can be distinctly undependable. For instance, King of Prussia reported 11 violent crimes and zero property crimes in 2012. It is impossible that in a municipality that is home to one of the largest malls in the country can go a year with no property crimes. That is why KOP, like Barry Bonds, gets an asterisk next to its statistics as they may have been aided by Performance Enhancement Reporting.

On the site, there is also a way to check the crime rate for every neighborhood in Philadelphia.

That list of the safest and most dangerous Philadelphia neighborhoods is coming next week.


  • Brian J

    Shout out to Chester. You are now safer than Folsom and Essington “per capita”…which is a pointless statistic to go by. This article essentially provides a ratio of danger, as opposed to the outright danger itself. Well done. In other words…move on to your next article of interest.

  • Jen

    This is so wrong

  • Terry

    Wrong as all hell, Chester gets no respect.

  • Folsomite

    Folsom, NJ is about the size of my thumb. Are you kidding?

    • PhillyRocks

      Folsom tied with Clementon HAHAHAHA. This is the dumbest thing ever.

  • Island Girl

    If crime rate is attributed to year round population, that would be the explanation of why Cape May’s crime rate is so high. The population swells in season and has a very few year round residents.

  • JaJaBarrett

    I am stunned by the high crime in Northern Delaware

  • john

    The site used for this crime information does not appear credible – it needs an asterisk- the FBI UCR provides accurate information on crime statistics

  • PhillyRocks

    How is Lindenwold not on this list? This is very bad research, Mendte needs to back to hacking computers.