New Jersey’s 50 Safest Cities of 2020

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the sixth annual Safest Cities report. Here are the 20 Safest Cities in New Jersey for 2020. See if your city made the list.

New Jersey is slightly less concerned about safety on a daily basis than the national average. Low crime rates, limited personal experience with crime, and this year’s 50 safest cities are part of the reason New Jersey residents don’t stay up at night worrying about their safety. 

See if your town is one of  New Jersey’s 50 safest cities of 2020. 

The number of people feeling high concern for their safety on a daily basis dropped by 10 percentage points in New Jersey, according to our 2020 State of Safety survey. In 2019, 54% expressed a high level of concern every day.

View the complete 2020 State of Safety report.

New Jersey is home to a large number of safe cities, often dominating our national rankings. In 2019, New Jersey had 30 cities land on our 100 Safest Cities in America list, and 18 cities made our 2019 ranking of the 100 Safest Small Towns in America.

It helps that the Garden State’s crime rates are consistently below national averages. Year over year, the state’s violent crime rate dropped from 2.3 incidents per 1,000 to 2.1. Likewise, New Jersey’s property crime rate fell from 15.8 to 14.0. Both rates are below the nationwide rates of 3.7 for violent crime and 22.0 for property crime.

Although personal experience with both violent and property crime rose between 2019 and 2020, New Jersey reports are still under national averages. Just 6% of New Jersey respondents reported a personal experience with violent crime in the past 12 months (12% nationally) and 15% said they had experienced property crime (26% nationally).

Violent Crime in New Jersey: Fear vs. Reality

When it comes to violent crime, being physically assaulted by a stranger is the crime that has most New Jerseyans worried. It’s also the violent crime they think most likely to actually happen to them.

• Just 6% experienced a violent crime in the past 12 months, compared to the national average of 12%.
• 41% indicated the highest concern about physical assault by a stranger, versus 40% across the US.
• 31% think they’re most likely to fall victim to a physical assault by a stranger, compared to 26% nationwide. 
• Aggravated assault was the most common violent crime in New Jersey, comprising  67% of all violent crime reported among the safest cities and 56% across the state.

Property Crime in New Jersey: Fear vs. Reality

Theft of digital property, like photos and files, is the biggest property crime concern in the Garden State. Last year, digital security was the overall safety concern in the state, with 71% of respondents marking it of high or very high concern. 

• 15% of New Jersey respondents had a personal experience with property crime in the past 12 months, compared to 26% nationally.
• 56% named digital property theft the most concerning property crime, versus 52% across the country. 
• 49% said that having digital property stolen is the property crime they think is most likely to actually happen. That’s 13 points higher than the national average of 36%.
• Larceny-theft was the most common property crime in New Jersey, accounting for 80% of all incidents among the safest cities and 76% across the state.
• 29% of New Jersey respondents use a security system to protect their property. That’s five points above the national average of 24%.
• Security systems are the top security measure used in New Jersey, followed by security cameras with 26% of all respondents using them.
• 33% don’t use any measure of protection for their property, compared to 29% nationwide.

A Closer Look at New Jersey’s Safest Cities of 2020

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

• Last year, the top three cities all reported zero violent crimes—this year seven cities went without a single reported violent crime (Chatham Township, Woolwich Township, Glen Rock, New Providence, River Edge, Lincoln Park, and Verona). The addition of property crime to the overall score is why these seven aren’t all at the top of the list.
• Thirty-two cities (64%) improved in rank year over year, with Hopatcong making the biggest jump—100 spots from 116 to 16.
• Eighteen cities (36%) dropped in rank this year.
• Every city on the list beat both state (2.1) and national (3.7) crime rates and every city kept violent crime to less than one incident per 1,000.
• Only four cities reported 10 or more violent crimes and Manchester Township had the most, with a paltry 15.
• Only 195 total violent crime incidents were reported among the safest cities.
• There were only three murders among the safest cities.
• All cities are below both state (14.0) and national (22.0) property crime rates and no city reported more than 6.6 incidents per 1,000.
• Forty cities (80%) reported fewer than 100 total property crimes, and River Vale Township had the fewest with 24, followed by Kinnelon with 25.

The 50 Safest Cities in New Jersey

VC = Violent Crime
PC = Property Crime

How We Determined the Safest Cities

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

How to Make a Safe Home Anywhere

Whether your city made our list or not, we recommend adding extra security to your home with monitored security services provided by the nation’s leading home security providers.

To learn more about your home security options, check out SafeWise’s picks for Best Home Security Systems.

Didn’t Find Your City in the Top 50?

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, which is based on the median population of the state. See how the remaining cities ranked in the list below.

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 2018.

Sources:

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, “2018 Crime in the United States”
SafeWise, “2020 State of Safety”
US Census Bureau, “American Fact Finder”
US Census Bureau, “Quick Facts Morris Township, Morris County, New Jersey”
BestPlaces, “Find a Place Search Tool”