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Is Bethlehem, PA Safe? 2026 Crime Rates & Safety Report

Key facts

  1. 01

    Bethlehem, Pennsylvania reported 79.15 burglary offenses per 100,000 residents in 2025, 0.42 times the national reference of 188.15 per 100,000 and 109.00 per 100,000 below that reference, with 61 annual reported offenses (FBI CDE 2025 profile).

  2. 02

    Bethlehem, Pennsylvania reported 114.18 aggravated assault offenses per 100,000 residents in 2025, 0.50 times the national reference of 229.56 per 100,000 and 115.38 per 100,000 below that reference, with 88 annual reported offenses (FBI CDE 2025 profile).

  3. 03

    Bethlehem, Pennsylvania reported 127.16 motor vehicle theft offenses per 100,000 residents in 2025, 0.66 times the national reference of 193.00 per 100,000 and 65.84 per 100,000 below that reference, with 98 annual reported offenses (FBI CDE 2025 profile).

  4. 04

    Bethlehem, Pennsylvania reported 38.93 robbery offenses per 100,000 residents in 2025, 0.81 times the national reference of 48.24 per 100,000 and 9.31 per 100,000 below that reference, with 30 annual reported offenses (FBI CDE 2025 profile).

  5. 05

    Bethlehem, Pennsylvania reported 1,082.15 larceny-theft offenses per 100,000 residents in 2025, 0.98 times the national reference of 1,106.97 per 100,000 and 24.82 per 100,000 below that reference, with 834 annual reported offenses (FBI CDE 2025 profile).

Quick answer

In the Safety Atlas 2026 public safety index, Bethlehem, PA has an adjusted safety score of 63.72 out of 100. It ranks #1 in this comparison set out of the 6 jurisdictions in the current scored comparison set in Pennsylvania. Its overall crime trajectory is currently classified as stable.

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Chart of Bethlehem, PA crime statistics: Bethlehem reported 158 violent offenses in 2025, 4.8% fewer than in 2024. Shows violent and property monthly bars.
Bethlehem reported 158 violent offenses in 2025, 4.8% fewer than in 2024. Source: FBI NIBRS, 2025, PA0480300. Counts of reported offenses, not rates. CC BY 4.0
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Data, definitions and reuse

Violent: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault. Property: burglary, larceny, vehicle theft, arson. Subcategories are excluded to avoid double counting. Counts are offenses reported to police in this jurisdiction, not rates, neighborhood scores or a census of all crime.

Monthly source sums, 2025
MonthViolentProperty
Jan1175
Feb877
Mar1583
Apr1688
May14100
Jun1186
Jul1590
Aug1190
Sep1772
Oct1695
Nov1672
Dec869

Reuse under CC BY 4.0; indicate changes. The downloaded image carries our name, licence and source in its metadata. Embed code:

<img src="https://www.safetyatlas.us/img/charts/bethlehem-pa-crime-trend-2025.webp" alt="Chart of Bethlehem, PA crime statistics: Bethlehem reported 158 violent offenses in 2025, 4.8% fewer than in 2024. Shows violent and property monthly bars." width="1200" height="675" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%;height:auto">
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.safetyatlas.us/safety/pa/bethlehem">Safety Atlas, Bethlehem, PA</a>. <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>.</p>

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63.72 / 100
Adjusted safety score
Personal safety76.98
Property security54.58
Community order40.09

2026 edition, FBI source year 2025.

Analyst takeaways · computed from the 2025 monthly series

Bethlehem in 7 numbers

  1. Robbery rose by a third. 30 reports in 2025 vs 23 in 2024 (+30%), the largest year-over-year move of any indicator offense.
  2. More than a third of all reports are property crime. 1,279 of 3,624 reports (35.3%); Simple assault alone is 1,111 (30.7%).
  3. Clearances skew toward violent crime. 81.8% of aggravated assaults cleared vs 17.3% of motor vehicle thefts and 28.3% of larcenies (2025, reports cleared ÷ reports received).
  4. Motor Vehicle Theft moved the other way. Down 16% (98 vs 116), with May (14) running 4.7× January (3).
  5. Motor Vehicle Theft is volatile but down. Monthly counts swung 4.7× (May 14 vs Jan 3); the year finished 16% below 2024.
  6. The biggest volume isn’t violent. Drug/Narcotic Violations (476) and vandalism (377) dwarf the whole personal-safety total (158, 4.4% of reports).
  7. Small months, big bars. December’s 6 motor vehicle thefts vs May’s 14 is a gap of 8 reports, monthly charts amplify small-number swings. Read the 12-month direction, not one bar.

Takeaways are computed from FBI CDE reported counts (source year 2025, PA0480300). They describe reported data, not forecasts; check the methodology and coverage notes before reuse.

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Key Public Safety Indicators

Reported rates per 100,000 residents; national references shown alongside.

Offense Class Annual Count Rate per 100K National Avg vs National
Robbery 30 38.93 48.24 0.81× national
Aggravated Assault 88 114.18 229.56 0.5× national
Burglary 61 79.15 188.15 0.42× national
Larceny-theft 834 1082.15 1106.97 0.98× national
Motor Vehicle Theft 98 127.16 193.0 0.66× national
FBI NIBRS monthly detail · source year 2025

Bethlehem monthly trend: reported counts through December 2025

Annual totals hide timing. The bars below show 2025 reported counts per month for the three highest-relative indicator offenses; each table carries the same numbers with FBI pre-computed rates. The full 19-offense monthly series (2020-2025) is downloadable below.

Larceny-theft, month by month

↓ Decreasing, 834 reports vs 934 in 2024 (down 11% in reported data).

Larceny-theft 2025: reported counts and FBI pre-computed rates per 100,000
MonthCountRate per 100KCoverage
Jan 20256682.07Full
Feb 20256682.07Full
Mar 20256985.8Full
Apr 20257795.74Full
May 20257896.99Full
Jun 20257188.28Full
Jul 20258099.47Full
Aug 20257492.01Full
Sep 20255669.63Full
Oct 20257998.23Full
Nov 20256074.6Full
Dec 20255872.12Full

Robbery, month by month

↑ Increasing, 30 reports vs 23 in 2024 (up 30% in reported data).

Robbery 2025: reported counts and FBI pre-computed rates per 100,000
MonthCountRate per 100KCoverage
Jan 202500Full
Feb 202522.49Full
Mar 202533.73Full
Apr 202522.49Full
May 202511.24Full
Jun 202511.24Full
Jul 202533.73Full
Aug 202533.73Full
Sep 202533.73Full
Oct 202544.97Full
Nov 202544.97Full
Dec 202544.97Full

Motor Vehicle Theft, month by month

↓ Decreasing, 98 reports vs 116 in 2024 (down 16% in reported data).

Motor Vehicle Theft 2025: reported counts and FBI pre-computed rates per 100,000
MonthCountRate per 100KCoverage
Jan 202533.73Full
Feb 202567.46Full
Mar 20251012.43Full
Apr 202544.97Full
May 20251417.41Full
Jun 202589.95Full
Jul 202578.7Full
Aug 20251113.68Full
Sep 20251113.68Full
Oct 20251214.92Full
Nov 202567.46Full
Dec 202567.46Full

Clearances: what got cleared in 2025

82% of aggravated assaults cleared vs 17% of motor vehicle thefts, clearance follows violent crime, not volume.

Clearances 2025: reports cleared per 100 reports received, highest rate first
OffenseReportedClearedClearance rate
Aggravated Assault887281.8%
Robbery301240.0%
Burglary612032.8%
Larceny-theft83423628.3%
Motor Vehicle Theft981717.3%

Clearances ÷ reports received; clearances may concern earlier reports, so this is not a solve rate.

Monthly counts and FBI pre-computed rates per 100,000, FBI CDE source year 2025, PA0480300. Rates use FBI month-specific covered-population denominators and are shown as published, not recomputed. A hyphen (-) means not reported, not zero. Annual totals equal the sum of shown months within ±2% (see manifest).

Downloads: Bethlehem monthly series (JSON) · same data (CSV) · build manifest

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City-specific reading

What drives Bethlehem's safety score?

Bethlehem ranks in the top quarter of the 6 jurisdictions in the current scored comparison set in Pennsylvania, ahead of approximately 83% of that scored set. The profile uses a reporting population of 77,069 and source-year data through 2025; it is a citywide agency-level comparison, not a neighborhood forecast.

The strongest of the three score components is Personal Safety at 76.98, while Community Order is lowest at 40.09. The 36.89-point spread shows why the composite should be read by component instead of as a single absolute claim about safety.

Among the five public offense indicators, Larceny-theft is highest relative to its national reference at 1082.15 per 100,000 (0.98× the national rate). Burglary is lowest on the same relative basis at 79.15 per 100,000 (0.42× national).

Coverage check: 18 of 18 tracked offense classes have reportable values in this profile. Missing values are not converted to zero.

Public indicator mix

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania recorded 834 larceny-theft offenses in 2025, 75.1% of the 1,111 reports across its five public indicators, compared with 30 robbery reports (2.7%); this share covers only those five indicators, excluding other offense classes.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania recorded 98 motor vehicle theft offenses in 2025, 8.8% of the 1,111 reports across its five public indicators, compared with 30 robbery reports (2.7%); this share covers only those five indicators, excluding other offense classes.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania recorded 88 aggravated assault offenses in 2025, 7.9% of the 1,111 reports across its five public indicators, compared with 30 robbery reports (2.7%); this share covers only those five indicators, excluding other offense classes.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania uses a reporting population of 77,069 residents and has values for 18 of the 18 tracked offense classes (100.0%) in its 2025 profile; coverage describes available classes rather than the share of residents reporting crime.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has an adjusted score of 63.72 points out of 100 versus 50.47 in Reading, Pennsylvania, a difference of 13.25 points above that displayed state peer in the 2025 source-year profile; Bethlehem ranks 1 of 6 scored jurisdictions in the published state comparison set.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has an adjusted score of 63.72 points out of 100 versus 49.61 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a difference of 14.11 points above that displayed state peer in the 2025 source-year profile; Bethlehem ranks 1 of 6 scored jurisdictions in the published state comparison set.

Detailed Crime Class Breakdown

Additional tracked offense classes

  • Homicide
  • Rape
  • Kidnapping/Abduction
  • Human Trafficking
  • Arson
  • Theft From Building
  • Theft From Motor Vehicle
  • Simple Assault
  • Intimidation
  • Stolen Property Offenses
  • Vandalism
  • Weapon Law Violations
  • Drug/Narcotic Violations

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bethlehem safe compared to other places in Pennsylvania?

Bethlehem is classified as having moderate relative safety in the 2026 Safety Atlas Index. It has an adjusted safety score of 63.72 out of 100 and ranks #1 in this comparison set out of the 6 jurisdictions in the current scored comparison set in Pennsylvania.

What is the crime rate in Bethlehem?

Public offense rates are listed above.

What is Bethlehem's safety rating?

Bethlehem's safety rating in the 2026 Safety Atlas Index is 63.72 out of 100, which ranks #1 in this comparison set out of the 6 jurisdictions in the current scored comparison set in Pennsylvania. Its overall crime trajectory is currently classified as stable, using source-year data through 2025.

What is the safest neighborhood in Bethlehem?

This profile covers the reporting jurisdiction; consult local sources for neighborhood detail.

Why are some crime statistics locked for Bethlehem?

Full offense series: state workbook.

How fresh is the monthly crime data on this page?

Monthly figures track FBI CDE source year 2025, the same vintage as the annual table above. A new FBI release typically lags several months; the caption stamps the source year and export date. Values can revise when the FBI re-publishes. Full monthly series for Bethlehem are downloadable as JSON and CSV.

Why does the monthly chart move so much?

Monthly counts are small numbers, a difference of a few reports swings the bar. Reporting practice, staffing, and seasonal patterns all move single months. Read the 12-month direction in the trajectory line, not one bar. This profile measures the reporting jurisdiction only; it cannot rank neighborhoods within Bethlehem.

What does the clearance rate on this page mean?

It divides 2025 reports cleared by 2025 reports received for that offense, including clearances of earlier reports, so it is a workload snapshot, not a guarantee a given case is solved. In Bethlehem, violent offenses clear at far higher rates than property offenses (aggravated assault 82%, motor vehicle theft 17.3%). Monthly clearance detail is not published yet.

Reading notes

Pennsylvania safety directory

Safety Atlas methodology · 2026 coverage report

Cite This Public Safety Profile

Citation formats:

APA Citation Format:
Safety Atlas. (2026). Bethlehem, PA Public Safety Profile & Crime Rates. Retrieved from https://www.safetyatlas.us/safety/pa/bethlehem
MLA Citation Format:
"Bethlehem, PA Public Safety Profile & Crime Rates." Safety Atlas, 2026, https://www.safetyatlas.us/safety/pa/bethlehem.

Primary Source Data Integrity

  • Crime Counts: FBI National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) database.
  • Demographics: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimate boundaries.
  • Methodology: Adjusted per-capita normalization with small-sample relief controls. View our complete Methodology Documentation.