New Jersey has three dozen municipalities with populations of at least 50,000. Collectively last year, they accounted for about 70 percent of the state's homicides and robberies and about half of all burglaries.

But not all of the state's largest towns are overrun with crime. Some are relatively safe places to live.

Below, we rank New Jersey's most populous municipalities from the most dangerous to safest based on 2016 crime statistics from the FBI and the State Police.

In ranking the towns, we gave greater weight to violent crimes. We based the rankings not on the total number of violent crimes, but the violent crime rate — that is, the number of crimes for every 1,000 residents in a town. Also figuring into our calculations were burglaries and car thefts.

#36 — CAMDEN

Camden County
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Population: 74,420
— 31.7 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 57
Rapes: 149
Robberies: 726
Aggravated assaults: 1,427
Burglaries: 2,591
Car thefts: 928

#35 — TRENTON

Mercer County
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Population: 83,644
— 13.5 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 21
Rapes: 59
Robberies: 427
Aggravated assaults: 620
Burglaries: 883
Car thefts: 373

#34 — IRVINGTON

Essex County
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Population: 54,430
— 9.4 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 4
Rapes: 25
Robberies: 284
Aggravated assaults: 196
Burglaries: 332
Car thefts: 367

#33 — NEWARK

Essex County
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Population: 281,450
— 9.4 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 100
Rapes: 99
Robberies: 1,334
Aggravated assaults: 1,104
Burglaries: 1,138
Car thefts: 2,122

#32 — ELIZABETH

Union County
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Population: 129,096
— 8.2 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 5
Rapes: 33
Robberies: 528
Aggravated assaults: 488
Burglaries: 730
Car thefts: 868

#31 — PATERSON

Passaic County
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Population: 147,265
— 7.6 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 19
Rapes: 56
Robberies: 551
Aggravated assaults: 500
Burglaries: 957
Car thefts: 671

#30 — NEW BRUNSWICK

Middlesex County
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Population: 57,158
— 6.9 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 38
Robberies: 211
Aggravated assaults: 142
Burglaries: 319
Car thefts: 74

#29 — PLAINFIELD

Union County
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Population: 51,221
— 6.8 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 12
Rapes: 17
Robberies: 147
Aggravated assaults: 170
Burglaries: 283
Car thefts: 76

#28 — EAST ORANGE

Essex County
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Population: 64,787
— 6.7 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 6
Rapes: 22
Robberies: 179
Aggravated assaults: 230
Burglaries: 205
Car thefts: 231

#27 — VINELAND

Cumberland County
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Population: 60,823
— 4.9 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 15
Robberies: 128
Aggravated assaults: 153
Burglaries: 559
Car thefts: 74

#26 — PASSAIC

Passaic County
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Population: 70,972
— 5.6 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 5
Robberies: 178
Aggravated assaults: 215
Burglaries: 198
Car thefts: 154

#25 — JERSEY CITY

Hudson County
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Population: 266,179
— 4.8 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 24
Rapes: 86
Robberies: 547
Aggravated assaults: 619
Burglaries: 953
Car thefts: 551

#24 — PERTH AMBOY

Middlesex County
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Population:: 52,767
— 4 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 7
Robberies: 68
Aggravated assaults: 135
Burglaries: 185
Car thefts: 87

#23 — UNION CITY

Hudson County
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Population: 69,345
— 3 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 1
Robberies: 71
Aggravated assaults: 138
Burglaries: 116
Car thefts: 104

#22 — CLIFTON

Passaic County
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Population: 86,324
— 2.3 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 7
Robberies: 83
Aggravated assaults: 112
Burglaries: 202
Car thefts: 115

#21 — WEST NEW YORK

Hudson County
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Population: 53,813
— 2.4 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 2
Rapes: 12
Robberies: 46
Aggravated assaults: 71
Burglaries: 106
Car thefts: 42

#20 — HAMILTON

Mercer County
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Population: 88,665
— 1.8 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 10
Robberies: 85
Aggravated assaults: 66
Burglaries: 320
Car thefts: 88

#19 — HOBOKEN

Hudson County
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Population: 54,095
— 2.2 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 2
Robberies: 22
Aggravated assaults: 97
Burglaries: 104
Car thefts: 30

#18 — BAYONNE

Hudson County
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Population: 66,629
— 2.2 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 2
Rapes: 10
Robberies: 56
Aggravated assaults: 79
Burglaries: 93
Car thefts: 51

#17 — NORTH BERGEN

Hudson County
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Population: 63,113
— 1.7 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 17
Robberies: 35
Aggravated assaults: 54
Burglaries: 81
Car thefts: 77

#16 — LAKEWOOD

county-OCEAN
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Population: 100,269
— 1.7 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 2
Rapes: 12
Robberies: 61
Aggravated assaults: 94
Burglaries: 193
Car thefts: 38

#15 — CHERRY HILL

Camden County
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Population: 71,079
— 1.3 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 2
Robberies: 49
Aggravated assaults: 40
Burglaries: 216
Car thefts: 55

#14 — GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP

Camden County
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Population: 63,484
— 1.4 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 8
Robberies: 23
Aggravated assaults: 55
Burglaries: 171
Car thefts: 43

#13 — UNION TOWNSHIP

Union County
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Population: 58,109
— 1.1 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 2
Rapes: 4
Robberies: 35
Aggravated assaults: 21
Burglaries: 99
Car thefts: 82

#12 — WOODBRIDGE

Middlesex County
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Population: 102,124
— 1 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 10
Robberies: 46
Aggravated assaults: 48
Burglaries: 226
Car thefts: 100

#11 — FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP

Somerset County
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Population: 66,791
— 0.9 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 10
Robberies: 37
Aggravated assaults: 14
Burglaries: 190
Car thefts: 31

#10 — EDISON

Middlesex County
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Population: 102,679
— 1 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 7
Robberies: 37
Aggravated assaults: 60
Burglaries: 165
Car thefts: 79

#9 — BRICK

county-OCEAN
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Population: 74,818
— 0.9 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 11
Robberies: 18
Aggravated assaults: 42
Burglaries: 180
Car thefts: 18

#8 — TOMS RIVER

county-OCEAN
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Population: 90,504
— 0.7 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 2
Robberies: 31
Aggravated assaults: 33
Burglaries: 254
Car thefts: 36

#7 — HOWELL

Monmouth County
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Population: 52,306
— 0.9 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 3
Robberies: 9
Aggravated assaults: 33
Burglaries: 77
Car thefts: 8

#6 — PARSIPPANY-TROY HILLS

Morris County
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Population: 53,447
— 0.6 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 7
Robberies: 11
Aggravated assaults: 16
Burglaries: 82
Car thefts: 21

#5 — PISCATAWAY

Middlesex County
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Population: 58,181
— 0.6 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 4
Robberies: 10
Aggravated assaults: 21
Burglaries: 84
Car thefts: 25

#4 — WAYNE

Passaic County
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Population: 55,023
— 0.3 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 2
Robberies: 7
Aggravated assaults: 8
Burglaries: 85
Car thefts: 44

#3 — OLD BRIDGE

Middlesex County
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Population: 67,238
— 0.4 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 1
Robberies: 5
Aggravated assaults: 21
Burglaries: 68
Car thefts: 30

#2 — JACKSON

county-OCEAN
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Population: 56,563
— 0.2 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 1
Rapes: 0
Robberies: 4
Aggravated assaults: 8
Burglaries: 89
Car thefts: 16

#1 — MIDDLETOWN

Monmouth County
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Population: 65,919
— 0.3 violent crimes per 1,000
Homicides: 0
Rapes: 3
Robberies: 4
Aggravated assaults: 10
Burglaries: 62
Car thefts: 10

Crime in New Jersey

Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-359-5348 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.

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