Montclair, NJ carries a PlainCrime A safety grade with violent crime 66% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Montclair, NJ shows violent crime at 118.1 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 836.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 66% 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
118.1/100K violent
836.3/100K property
-66% vs U.S.
The verdict
Montclair earns an A safety grade: violent crime runs 66% below the U.S. average, placing it close to the national middle for violent crime.
A
PlainCrime safety grade
-66%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
66th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
836.3
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Montclair, NJ
Comparable rate records
Montclair's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New Jersey cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Montclair's 118.1 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Highlands (117.9), Franklin Township, Gloucester County (117.9), South Plainfield (117.9), Winslow Township (117.2). 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
Montclair sits mid-pack among comparable New Jersey cities
At 118.1 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Montclair ranks 140 of 417 — above 277 of the 416 other New Jersey cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +73.3% 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 64.1% of reported property offenses in Montclair, against a cohort median of 82.1%. The remainder is burglary (91) and motor vehicle theft (31). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 98.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 118.1 in 2024 (+20.0%). The highest observed value was 118.1 in 2024 and the lowest 72.1 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 12.4% of the 388 Part I offenses reported in Montclair for 2024, against a median of 7.1% across comparable New Jersey cities — a gap of 5.2 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 Montclair'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.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
+75%
477.9 → 836.3/100K
Violent Crime Rate
+7.3%
110.1 → 118.1/100K
Property offenses lead Montclair's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
340
836.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
218
536.2
-
Burglary
91
223.8
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
31
76.2
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
48
118.1
352
Aggravated Assault
34
83.6
-
Robbery
9
22.1
-
Rape
5
12.3
-
Murder
0
0
-
Montclair Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Montclair property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
836.3/100K↑75%vs 2023
Montclair violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · rose · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
118.1/100K↑7.3%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
38,621
98.4
693.9
306
2021
Comparable
40,224
72.1
740.9
327
2022
Comparable
41,117
107
1070.1
484
2023
Comparable
39,967
110.1
477.9
235
2024
Comparable
40,656
118.1
836.3
388
How Montclair sits among NJ peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Montclair Police Department NIBRS-participating
Montclair's crime figures on this page originate from Montclair 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 Montclair in population. Their populations run from 38,189 to 42,771, against 40,656 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 Montclair's 118.1/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Montclair has a violent crime rate of 118.1 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 836.3 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Montclair, NJ safe? ▼
Montclair receives a safety grade of A (Safe), with a safety score of 81/100. The violent crime rate is 66% below the national average and 45% below the New Jersey average.
What is the population of Montclair, NJ? ▼
The reporting population for Montclair is 40,656 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Montclair? ▼
In 2024, Montclair reported 48 violent crimes and 340 property crimes, for a total of 388 reported offenses.
How do Montclair's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Montclair recorded about one reported offense per 105 residents and one reported violent offense per 847 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Montclair? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Montclair's violent crime rate increased by 7.3%, and the property crime rate increased by 75%.
What is the most common crime in Montclair? ▼
The most common crime type in Montclair is larceny-theft, accounting for 56.2% of all reported crimes (218 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Montclair 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 Montclair, NJ rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.