The Philadelphia Region’s Most Dangerous Places (and its Safest)
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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 NeighborhoodScout.com, 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:
| Rank | City | State | Rating (0-100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | King of Prussia | PA | 99 |
| 2 | Elmer | NJ | 96 |
| 3 | Chester Springs | PA | 95 |
| 4 | Harleysville | PA | 93 |
| 5 | Jamison | PA | 93 |
| 6 | Richboro | PA | 92 |
| 7 | Washington Crossing | PA | 89 |
| 8 | Hulmesville | PA | 88 |
| 9 | Dresher | PA | 88 |
| 10 | Wallingford | PA | 85 |
| 10 | Bryn Athyn | PA | 85 |
And now the most dangerous
| Rank | City | State | Rating (0-100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camden | NJ | 1 |
| 2 | Atlantic City | NJ | 1 |
| 3 | Darby | PA | 1 |
| 4 | Wilmington | DE | 2 |
| 5 | New Castle | DE | 3 |
| 6 | Millville | NJ | 4 |
| 7 | Folsom | NJ | 4 |
| 8 | Clementon | NJ | 4 |
| 9 | Wrightstown | NJ | 6 |
| 10 | Essington | PA | 6 |
| 10 | Marcus Hook | PA | 6 |
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.
