New Jersey’s 50 Safest Cities of 2022

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the eighth annual Safest Cities report.

See if your city made the full list.

New Jersey boasts some of the lowest crime rates in the country, but New Jersey residents express the sixth-highest level of concern about their safety. This report highlights the cities in the state that report the fewest crimes, and explores the contradiction in New Jersey’s perception of safety versus how safe the state really is. 

• Violent crime rates
• Property crime rates
• Interesting findings
• The Safest Cities
• Methodology
• How to make a safe home anywhere
• How other cities compare
• How other states compare

New Jersey's violent crime rate dropped nearly 6% compared to last year—reporting 2.0 incidents per 1,000 people. The state also saw fewer property crimes with the property crime rate falling 13% from 13.3 per 1,000 people to 11.6.

In the Mid-Atlantic region, New Jersey bested the violent-crime regional average, with the lowest rate ahead of New York (3.6). It also beat New York  (14.1) for the lowest property crime rate in the region.

This is the second consecutive year that New Jersey was among states with the fifth-lowest rate in the nation for violent crime. The Garden state is the fourth-lowest in the nation when it comes to property crime.

Compared to last year’s State of Safety report, New Jerseyites were 1.3 times more likely to worry about their safety on a daily basis. This jump in levels of concern puts New Jersey above the national average for the first time in two years. By comparison, less than half of Americans (47%) reported similar levels of concern.

Survey participants also reported a twofold increase in personal experiences with violent crime while experiences with gun violence were 1.8 times more common. Experiences with property crime went down compared to our last survey but didn't reach the low level from two years ago when only 5% said they had an experience with property crime.

Despite less personal experience with property crime, New Jersey respondents named property crime the crime issue they feel is most likely to happen to them—54% told us it’s their top crime worry, compared to 42% across the US. New Jersey also reported higher-than-average concern and experience with package theft.

We asked New Jersey residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if New Jersey residents are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2022 State of Safety report.

Just over half of New Jersey residents feel safe in their home state, which is close to how most Americans feel. 

Despite a small decrease in violent crimes reported to law enforcement, respondents told us they personally experienced more violent crime compared to last year. People in New Jersey were also more likely than average to say the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their personal safety.

• 52% of people in New Jersey reported feeling safe in their state compared to 55% of Americans.
• Twice as many people in New Jersey (12%) reported having a personal experience with violent crime in the 12 months prior to the survey—up from 6% the previous year.
• Robbery is the most-reported violent crime, making up 25% of all violent crime in The Garden State (US 19%).
• 35% of survey participants report using some form of personal protection—slightly higher than the US average (34%). 
• Pepper spray is the most common form of personal protection used. Keychain weapons are the second most popular type of self-defense device, which is unusual compared to other states.
• 55% of New Jerseyites say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 44% of Americans—only 3 states reported higher numbers.

• 67% of New Jersey residents named gun violence as a top safety concern—well above the US average of 53%.
• 9% of survey participants reported experiencing gun violence in the 12 months prior to the survey, a near-doubling from 5% last year.
• There was a 17% increase in mass shooting incidents year over year. New Jersey recorded 14 incidents in 2021, compared to 12 the year before.
• Firearms are the fourth most common form of property protection used (after security systems, security cameras, and guard animals), although the number of respondents using them increased by 63% year over year (from 8% to 13%). 
• Use of concealed carry firearms for self defense also rose from 3% to 9% year over year.

People in New Jersey reported less personal experience with property crime, which matches a similar decline in the state's property crime rate. Residents were more likely than average to use a security system or to say their property was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Fewer New Jerseyans (13%) reported personal experiences with property crime this reporting year compared to the previous year (15%).
• Burglary accounts for 13% of all property crimes in The Garden State (the 50 safest cities average 12%), which is lower than the national rate of 16%.
• 21% of participants reported experiencing package theft, putting New Jersey just above the US average of 20%.
• 55% of people in New Jersey use some form of property protection, compared to 60% nationwide.
• The top form of property protection in New Jersey was security systems with 31% of survey respondents using them. This is higher than the national average of 25%.
• 40% of respondents say the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the security of their property—11 points higher than the US average of 29%.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• 244 cities met criteria to be considered for ranking. 
• Sparta Township rose 1 spot to claim the title of Safest City in New Jersey.
• Hasbrouck Heights (number 3) jumped a whopping 43 spots, but 2 other cities had even more dramatic jumps: Florence Township (number 44) rose 52 and Cranford Township (number 35) rose 50 spots.
• Only 10 of the safest cities reported violent crime numbers in the double-digits, with none reporting more than 27.
• 7 of the safest cities reported 0 violent crimes, and 47 reported 0 murders.
• 48 cities (96%) reported fewer than 1 violent crime per 1,000 people.
• No city reported more than 5.5 property crimes per 1,000—that’s less than half the state rate.
• Sparta Township (number 1) reported only 22 total crimes, with 18 of those being property crimes. 
• The average median household income among the safest cities is $124,565—nearly double the national median household income of $67,521. New Jersey’s median household income is $85,239.

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. One of the best ways to stop a burglary before it happens is to add a home security system.

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We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population as calculated using FBI data. To request a report of the remaining cities in your state, sign up for our email newsletter (we make it easy in a quick form below!) or email info@safewise.com with the subject line: Safest Cities Full Report.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2020.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
• Best Video Doorbell Cameras
• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Crime Data Explorer, Accessed March 8, 2022.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed January 24, 2022.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 8, 2022.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.