Is Parkville, MD a Safe Place to Live? Crime Rates & More

Overview of Parkville

Introduction to Living in Parkville, MD

Ask a longtime resident, and they’ll tell you Parkville feels like classic Baltimore County suburbia. Tree-lined blocks, crab-house carry-outs on Harford Road, and neighborhoods where folks still wave from the porch.

People eye the area for its balanced price point in the Parkville housing market, the tight commute to Towson or downtown Baltimore, and the easy access to I-695. It’s small-town in vibe but big enough to find everything from soccer leagues to indie coffee.

The big question, though, when you’re deciding whether to live in Parkville, is simple: how safe is it?

Geographical Location

Parkville sits inside Baltimore County’s beltway, roughly eight miles northeast of the Inner Harbor.

The core ZIP code is 21234, though a few fringe blocks share neighboring codes. Because it’s an unincorporated community, Parkville policing falls under county jurisdiction, while Baltimore City’s line begins a couple of miles south.

That urban–suburban overlap drives some comparisons when people pull up a crime map, Baltimore City looks red in spots, Parkville looks mostly yellow with patches of green.

Cost of Living in Parkville

One reason buyers search homes for sale in Parkville is price.

Median listing prices land well under Baltimore County’s waterfront enclaves, and property taxes track with county norms.

Add in groceries, utilities, and gas that mirror the Maryland state average, and you’ve got a middle-of-the-road cost of living that still gives first-time buyers room to breathe.

Parkville, MD Crime Breakdown

Property Crime

County records and national trackers show property crime leads the pack here. CrimeGrade puts the property-crime rate at 24.05 incidents per 1,000 residents in a typical year.

NeighborhoodScout’s audit bumps that to 33.1 per 1,000 based on its last reporting window.

Numbers swing a bit because different platforms slice the data differently, but every source agrees that the most common issues are thefts from cars, porch-pirate package grabs, and the occasional break-in.

Violent Crime

Violent crime is lower in raw volume but naturally weighs more on people’s minds.

The violent crime rate in Parkville clocks in at 5.41 per 1,000 residents, above Maryland’s 4.26 figure and the national median of four.

That translates to roughly a 1-in-185 chance of being a victim of violent crime in a standard year. Most incidents involve simple assault rather than headline-grabbing cases, but it’s still higher than the national average.

Other Crime

“Other” in FBI tables covers everything from drug possession to disorderly conduct.

Those numbers sit in the single-digit range per 1,000 residents and have stayed relatively steady the past five years, according to quarterly FBI crime releases that lump unincorporated areas like Parkville into county-wide tallies.

Trends in Parkville Crime Rates

Broadly, crime in Parkville varies by neighborhood: the northeast pocket near Cub Hill frequently charts the safest areas in Parkville, while south-side blocks closer to the city boundary report higher crime.

CrimeGrade plots this visually with green swaths in the north, yellow through the middle, reddish blocks hugging the city line.

Year-over-year, Areavibes notes a 16 percent uptick in total incidents last cycle, driven mostly by petty thefts during pandemic reopenings.

Compare Parkville Crime Rates 

Comparison of Parkville Crime Rates with Maryland

Stack Parkville against the Maryland state average, and less safe becomes clear on certain metrics.

The violent crime rate sits roughly 27 percent higher than the state as a whole (5.41 vs. 4.26 per 1,000).

Property crime, meanwhile, is only slightly above Maryland’s statewide number, landing Parkville in the middle of the pack among cities of the same size.

Crime Rate Comparison with Nearby Cities

Contrast Parkville with Baltimore City, and it looks downright calm: Baltimore’s violent rate hovers near 18 per 1,000.

Compared with suburban Perry Hall or Nottingham, Parkville’s numbers edge higher. 

That push-and-pull is why the crime map highlights the safest areas in Parkville in green, mostly north and east, while pockets bordering the city show up in orange or red.

Safety Measures and Resources

Chance of Being a Victim of Crime in Parkville

Statistically, residents in a standard year face about a 1-in-26 chance of any crime happening to them, according to CrimeGrade’s breakdown of crime per capita in Parkville.

That chance drops to 1-in-50 in the central part of the community and climbs to 1-in-22 in certain south-end blocks, underscoring how much crime in Parkville varies even within two miles.

Role of the Parkville Police Department

Because Parkville is unincorporated, Baltimore County Police Precinct 8 handles calls.

Response times average seven minutes for priority calls, and the precinct maintains a public crime map updated nightly.

Officers run weekly patrol blitzes in retail corridors and host “Coffee with a Cop” at Panera to walk residents through crime maps and rates.

Community Safety Initiatives

Neighbors band together through the Hillendale and Carney Community Associations, swapping detailed crime rates on Facebook and pushing for better LED street lighting.

Ring-camera footage circulates quickly, and precinct liaisons attend HOA meetings to explain where crime rates are shown trending up or down.

That grassroots visibility often keeps smaller issues from snowballing.

Living in Parkville: Is it a Safe Place to Live?

Safety is personal. Some families move in and hardly lock the front door; others add motion lights on their first weekend. The takeaway is that Parkville’s numbers land in a messy middle: safer than many urban zips, a touch riskier than bedroom suburbs farther north.

If you’re thinking of living in Parkville, it helps to drive block by block, pull the latest crime statistics, and talk to Parkville residents about what the street feels like after dark.

Plenty of folks argue the trade-off (location, price, community) makes sense, especially if you layer in common-sense security.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Summary of Crime Statistics

Zooming out, the rate of crime in Parkville sits around 38 to 42 incidents per 1,000 residents, depending on the source, with the violent crime rate in Parkville roughly one point above the state figure. Property crimes drive two-thirds of reports.

The area ranks in the 40th percentile for safety nationwide, meaning it is safer than about four in ten comparable communities but less safe than the national average overall.

Future Outlook for Crime in Parkville

Baltimore County rolled out a predictive-policing dashboard in 2024, which early data suggests cut package thefts in test zones by twelve percent.

If that software expands across precincts, analysts expect a modest dip in property offenses over the next three years.

As for violent offenses, the county’s new youth-outreach program aims to lower assaults tied to school catchment overlap. In short, Parkville likely trends flat-to-better unless broader metro factors intervene.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Parkville threads the needle between urban convenience and small-town familiarity. Crime rates in that area aren’t low enough to ignore, but they’re manageable with eyes-open awareness.

If you weigh those numbers, tour at different times, and pick a block that fits your comfort level, you’ll likely find living here stacks up well against most cities but less safe rural hamlets, and certainly beats the reputational headlines tied to Baltimore City.

Parkville Safety FAQs

Where does Parkville rank for safety compared to other Maryland suburbs?

Parkville lands near the middle. It’s safer than many inner-beltway spots but records higher rates than farther-north communities like Phoenix or Baldwin.

Think of it as less risky than Baltimore City but not as low-crime as small-town Harford County. Context matters, so check the rate of crime in Parkville against each suburb before deciding.

Does the central part of Parkville really have lower crime?

Yes. Crime maps and rates from Crimegrade show the central and northeastern quadrants in darker green, reflecting fewer calls for service.

Residents there report quieter nights, and the precinct’s own public logs back up the lower incident count. South-side zones closer to the city line see more police activity.

How often do violent crimes happen here, and what kinds?

Violent incidents average roughly five per 1,000 residents annually. Most are aggravated assaults following disputes, with occasional robberies at convenience stores. Homicides remain rare.

Compared with statewide data, Parkville shows a slightly higher assault rate but fewer gun-related fatalities, which keeps overall violent crime in Parkville elevated yet not extreme.

What are the safest areas in Parkville for new buyers?

Neighborhoods off Old Harford Road near Carney and the sections north of Putty Hill Avenue rank safest by every major tracker. The Parkville crime map uses green shading for blocks where burglary and theft rates are materially lower.

Buyers who want the lowest risk should start house-hunting there and then compare crime to price and commute.

How can residents reduce their chances of being a victim of crime in Parkville?

Simple steps go a long way: lock car doors, keep porch lights on, and register for county text alerts. Join a community association to stay current on detailed crime alerts.

Police say neighborhoods that coordinate watch groups often see double-digit drops in property crime, lowering the cost of crime in Parkville for everyone.