Fort Lee, NJ carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 63% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Fort Lee, NJ shows violent crime at 131 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 1,100.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 63% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade A from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
A safety grade
131/100K violent
1100.3/100K property
-63% vs U.S.
The verdict
Fort Lee earns an A safety grade: violent crime runs 63% below the U.S. average, placing it close to the national middle for violent crime.
A
PlainCrime safety grade
-63%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
62nd
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
1,100.3
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Fort Lee, NJ
Comparable rate records
Fort Lee's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New Jersey cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Fort Lee's 131.0 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Berlin Township (130.5), Berkeley Township (131.7), South Toms River (129.6), Pine Beach (132.5). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 100.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 131.0 in 2024 (+30.8%). The highest observed value was 153.9 in 2022 and the lowest 67.0 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Position in the state cohort
Fort Lee sits mid-pack among comparable New Jersey cities
At 131.0 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Fort Lee ranks 124 of 417 — above 293 of the 416 other New Jersey cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +92.3% against the cohort median of 68.1. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 72.6% of reported property offenses in Fort Lee, against a cohort median of 82.1%. The remainder is burglary (62) and motor vehicle theft (60). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 10.6% of the 498 Part I offenses reported in Fort Lee for 2024, against a median of 7.1% across comparable New Jersey cities — a gap of 3.5 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
Property counts dominate Fort Lee's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Both rates shifted (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+23.7%
105.9 → 131/100K
Property Crime Rate
-21.5%
1402.5 → 1100.3/100K
Property offenses lead Fort Lee's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
445
1100.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
323
798.6
-
Burglary
62
153.3
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
60
148.3
-
Arson
1
2.5
-
Violent Crime
53
131
352
Aggravated Assault
33
81.6
-
Robbery
14
34.6
-
Rape
6
14.8
-
Murder
0
0
-
Fort Lee Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Fort Lee property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
1,100.3/100K↓21.5%vs 2023
Fort Lee violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
131/100K↑23.7%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
38,921
100.2
963.5
414
2021
Comparable
40,285
67
829.1
361
2022
Comparable
39,636
153.9
1362.4
601
2023
Comparable
39,644
105.9
1402.5
598
2024
Comparable
40,445
131
1100.3
498
How Fort Lee sits among NJ peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Fort Lee Police Department NIBRS-participating
Fort Lee's crime figures on this page originate from Fort Lee Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in New Jersey
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the New Jersey cities closest to Fort Lee in population. Their populations run from 38,189 to 42,771, against 40,445 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These New Jersey cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Fort Lee's 131/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Fort Lee has a violent crime rate of 131 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1100.3 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Fort Lee, NJ safe? ▼
Fort Lee receives a safety grade of A (Safe), with a safety score of 77/100. The violent crime rate is 63% below the national average and 39% below the New Jersey average.
What is the population of Fort Lee, NJ? ▼
The reporting population for Fort Lee is 40,445 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Fort Lee? ▼
In 2024, Fort Lee reported 53 violent crimes and 445 property crimes, for a total of 498 reported offenses.
How do Fort Lee's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Fort Lee recorded about one reported offense per 81 residents and one reported violent offense per 763 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Fort Lee? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Fort Lee's violent crime rate increased by 23.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 21.5%.
What is the most common crime in Fort Lee? ▼
The most common crime type in Fort Lee is larceny-theft, accounting for 64.9% of all reported crimes (323 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Fort Lee figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Fort Lee, NJ rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.