NJ’s largest towns and cities — Ranked from the most dangerous to the safest
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
MORE: Most violent towns in Central Jersey and the Shore
MORE: The Top 20 most violent cities and suburbs of North Jersey
MORE: The Top 20 most violent and deadliest towns in South 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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