Lower Township, NJ carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 56% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Lower Township, NJ shows violent crime at 155.6 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 718.6 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 56% 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
155.6/100K violent
718.6/100K property
-56% vs U.S.
The verdict
Lower Township earns an A safety grade: violent crime runs 56% below the U.S. average, placing it close to the national middle for violent crime.
A
PlainCrime safety grade
-56%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
55th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
718.6
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Lower Township, NJ
Comparable rate records
Lower Township's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New Jersey cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Lower Township's 155.6 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Bloomingdale (155.6), Long Beach Township (155.3), Aberdeen Township (156.2), Phillipsburg (156.2). 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.
Position in the state cohort
Lower Township reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable New Jersey cities
At 155.6 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Lower Township ranks 97 of 417 — above 320 of the 416 other New Jersey cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +128.4% 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.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 17.8% of the 191 Part I offenses reported in Lower Township for 2024, against a median of 7.1% across comparable New Jersey cities — a gap of 10.7 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.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window close to where it started
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 155.8 per 100,000 in 2020 to 155.6 in 2024 (-0.1%). The highest observed value was 155.8 in 2020 and the lowest 28.5 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Lower Township'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.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
+11.4%
139.7 → 155.6/100K
Property Crime Rate
-6.7%
770.4 → 718.6/100K
Property offenses lead Lower Township's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
157
718.6
1711
Larceny-Theft
117
535.5
-
Burglary
21
96.1
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
19
87
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
34
155.6
352
Aggravated Assault
24
109.8
-
Rape
8
36.6
-
Robbery
2
9.2
-
Murder
0
0
-
Lower Township Crime Trend (2020-2024)
The chart omits 2021 rather than drawing an unsupported zero or partial-coverage dip. The table preserves the year and marks the gap.
Lower Township property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 4 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
718.6/100K↓6.7%vs 2023
Lower Township violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
155.6/100K↑11.4%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
21,177
155.8
637.5
168
2021
Insufficient reporting
21,042
-
-
-
2022
Comparable
22,238
152.9
751
201
2023
Comparable
22,195
139.7
770.4
202
2024
Comparable
21,848
155.6
718.6
191
How Lower Township sits among NJ peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Lower Township Police Department NIBRS-participating
Lower Township's crime figures on this page originate from Lower Township 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 Lower Township in population. Their populations run from 21,172 to 22,415, against 21,848 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 Lower Township's 155.6/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Lower Township has a violent crime rate of 155.6 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 718.6 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Lower Township, NJ safe? ▼
Lower Township receives a safety grade of A (Safe), with a safety score of 78/100. The violent crime rate is 56% below the national average and 28% below the New Jersey average.
What is the population of Lower Township, NJ? ▼
The reporting population for Lower Township is 21,848 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Lower Township? ▼
In 2024, Lower Township reported 34 violent crimes and 157 property crimes, for a total of 191 reported offenses.
How do Lower Township's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Lower Township recorded about one reported offense per 114 residents and one reported violent offense per 643 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Lower Township? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Lower Township's violent crime rate increased by 11.4%, and the property crime rate decreased by 6.7%.
What is the most common crime in Lower Township? ▼
The most common crime type in Lower Township is larceny-theft, accounting for 61.3% of all reported crimes (117 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Lower Township 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 Lower Township, NJ rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.