Is Bergen County, New Jersey safe? This is one of the most common questions we receive here at mybergen.com from non-residents who may be considering visiting or moving to our home county. To help answer this and other questions, we’ve taken a closer look at how Bergen County compares to other New Jersey counties and national averages for crime rates and safety. We’ve also tapped into other resources to discover which Bergen County small towns are ranked highest for safety.
Violent Crime in Bergen County
According to the most recent statistics gathered by Countyhealthrankings.org, Bergen County ranks #16 of New Jersey’s 21 counties for violent crime, with 789 average annual violent crimes reported. Essex County, located close to southern Bergen County, ranked highest in New Jersey for violent crime with 4,814 average annual violent crimes. Hunterdon County in central New Jersey has the lowest average violent crime count with 53 average annual violent crimes.
Violent crimes are defined as offenses that involve a direct face-to-face confrontation between a victim and a perpetrator, including homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
The data for this violent crime study comes from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program and only includes violent crimes reported to police that are then reported to the FBI. Three years of data were combined to create this measure in past years. Only two years of data were used (2014 and 2016) due to non-published data in 2015. View the complete Countyhealthrankings.org New Jersey Violent Crime measure and methodology.
Overall Crime Rates in Bergen County
According to Sperling’s Bestplaces.net, Bergen County’s overall violent crime rate is 8.6. The average violent crime rate for the United States is 22.7.
Bergen County’s property crime rate is 19.0, according to Bestplaces.net. The average property crime rate for the United States is 35.4.
Property crime includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The object of the theft-type offenses is taking money or property without any force or threat of force against the victim.
Sperling’s BestPlaces provides demographic data from the national level down to the zip code. Data is sourced from original research and analysis and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports, and many other outside sources, all of which are carefully vetted and updated with the latest and most accurate figures. Read more about Sperling’s BestPlaces data sources and reporting methods.
Bergen County’s Safest Small Towns
What are the safest small towns in Bergen County? How do these local communities compare to other New Jersey counties regarding crime? How do New Jersey’s small towns compare to those in other states?
New Jersey Has More Safe Small Towns on Top 100 List
According to the most recent safewise.com survey of the 100 Safest Small Towns in America, New Jersey has the most safe small towns, with 27 New Jersey communities making the annual list. Nine Bergen County small towns have made the cut for the most recent SafeWise list of safest small towns in America!
What Are Bergen County’s Safest Small Towns?
The following Bergen County towns have made the most recent SafeWise list of America’s Safest Small Towns:
- #15 on the list of America’s Safest Small Towns-Park Ridge, NJ
- #26 (tied) on the list of America’s Safest Small Towns-Old Tappan, NJ
- #26 (tied) on the list of America’s Safest Small Towns-River Vale Township, NJ
- #37 on the list of America’s Safest Small Towns-Washington Township, NJ
- #58 on the list of America’s Safest Small Towns-Oradell, NJ
- #60 on the list of America’s Safest Small Towns-Montvale, NJ
- #91 on the list of America’s Safest Small Towns-Cresskill, NJ
- #99 (tied) on the list of America’s Safest Small Towns –Norwood, NJ
- #99 (tied) on the list of America’s Safest Small Towns-Upper Saddle River, NJ
How Was List of the Safest Small Towns Compiled?
SafeWise looked at FBI crime report data and population information for the most recent year for which complete data was available and excluded towns with populations below 5,000 and above 15,000. Because cities with populations under 2,500 are considered rural by census definitions, SafeWise ruled them out of the study.
SafeWise found that an overwhelming number of cities between 2,500 and 5,000 residents reported zero crimes and concluded that a large percentage of cities reporting zero crimes skewed any meaningful examination of the data. After deliberation, SafeWise raised its minimum population threshold to 5,000 this year instead of using the US Census definitions as its only guide.
The national median population, 15,000, determined the maximum threshold. Cities outside those population parameters and those that failed to report complete crime data to the FBI were excluded from the list of safest small towns.
To rank each city or town, 50% of the score was determined by the number of violent crimes per 1,000, and 50% was determined by the number of property crimes per 1,000.
Each measurement was normalized on a 0–1 scale with 1 corresponding to the measurement that would most positively affect the final score. These adjusted measurements were then added together with the weights mentioned above to get a score of 100.
What About Bergen County’s Safest Cities?
Bergen County is also well-represented on the SafeWise list of New Jersey’s 50 Safest Cities (based on population), with 13 Bergen County cities making the list! View the 2021 list of Safest New Jersey Cities.
Learn more about SafeWise.
25 Fun Things to Do in Bergen County!
