Crime rates for Columbia, PA

The crime rate in Columbia is considerably higher than the national average across all communities in America from the largest to the smallest, although at 39 crimes per one thousand residents, it is not among the communities with the very highest crime rate. The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Columbia is 1 in 26. Based on FBI crime data, Columbia is not one of the safest communities in America. Relative to Pennsylvania, Columbia has a crime rate that is higher than 90% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes.

Importantly, when you compare Columbia to other boroughs of similar population, the Columbia crime rate (violent and property crimes combined) is quite a bit higher than average. Regardless of how Columbia does relative to all communities in America of all sizes, when NeighborhoodScout compared it to communities of similar population size, its crime rate per thousand residents stands out as higher than most.

The crime data that NeighborhoodScout used for this analysis are the seven offenses from the uniform crime reports, collected by the FBI from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, and include both violent and property crimes, combined.

Now let us turn to take a look at how Columbia does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Columbia.

For Columbia, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included forcible rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Columbia is one in 164.

NeighborhoodScout's analysis also reveals that Columbia's rate for property crime is 33 per one thousand population. This makes Columbia a place where there is an above average chance of becoming a victim of a property crime, when compared to all other communities in America of all population sizes. Property crimes are motor vehicle theft, arson, larceny, and burglary. Your chance of becoming a victim of any of these crimes in Columbia is one in 31.