Mountainside, NJ carries a PlainCrime A+ safety grade with violent crime 96% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Mountainside, NJ shows violent crime at 14.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 340.3 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 96% 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
14.2/100K violent
340.3/100K property
-96% vs U.S.
The verdict
Mountainside earns an A+ safety grade: violent crime runs 96% below the U.S. average, placing it among the safest cities in the country.
A+
PlainCrime safety grade
-96%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
99th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
340.3
property crimes per 100K
Based on 1 reported violent incidents in a population of 7,053. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Mountainside, NJ
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Mountainside reported 1 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 7,053. At this volume one additional or one fewer report moves the per-100,000 rate noticeably, so the figure is better read as a data point than as a precise measurement, and year-to-year swings here are expected.
Comparable rate records
Mountainside's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New Jersey cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Mountainside's 14.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Linwood (14.4), Cedar Grove Township (14.6), Rockaway (14.8), North Caldwell (15.0). 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
Mountainside reported a lower violent-crime rate than most comparable New Jersey cities
At 14.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Mountainside ranks 358 of 417 — above 59 of the 416 other New Jersey cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is -79.3% against the cohort median of 68.5. 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 66.7% of reported property offenses in Mountainside, against a cohort median of 82.1%. The remainder is burglary (5) and motor vehicle theft (3). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Offense mix
The reported mix leans further toward property offenses than the state cohort
Violent offenses are 4.0% of the 25 Part I offenses reported in Mountainside for 2024, against a median of 7.2% across comparable New Jersey cities — a gap of 3.2 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 Mountainside'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.
Based on 1 reported violent incidents in a population of 7,053. At this volume, one additional or one fewer report can shift the rate and letter grade noticeably; small-city crime counts are inherently more volatile year to year than large-city counts, so treat this grade as a data point, not a precise ranking.
Small-city offense counts above are voluntary UCR submissions, not neighbourhood advice. Year-to-year swings can look large when the population base is modest.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
+48%
229.9 → 340.3/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-1.4%
14.4 → 14.2/100K
Property offenses lead Mountainside's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
24
340.3
1711
Larceny-Theft
16
226.9
-
Burglary
5
70.9
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
3
42.5
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
1
14.2
352
Robbery
1
14.2
-
Murder
0
0
-
Rape
0
0
-
Aggravated Assault
0
0
-
Mountainside Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Mountainside property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
340.3/100K↑48%vs 2023
Mountainside violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
14.2/100K↓1.4%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
6,902
0
565.1
39
2021
Comparable
7,188
27.8
41.7
5
2022
Comparable
7,019
42.7
641.1
48
2023
Comparable
6,959
14.4
229.9
17
2024
Comparable
7,053
14.2
340.3
25
How Mountainside sits among NJ peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Mountainside Police Department NIBRS-participating
Mountainside's crime figures on this page originate from Mountainside 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 Mountainside in population. Their populations run from 6,926 to 7,227, against 7,053 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 Mountainside's 14.2/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Mountainside has a violent crime rate of 14.2 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 340.3 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Mountainside, NJ safe? ▼
Mountainside receives a safety grade of A+ (Very Safe), with a safety score of 96/100. The violent crime rate is 96% below the national average and 93% below the New Jersey average.
What is the population of Mountainside, NJ? ▼
The reporting population for Mountainside is 7,053 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Mountainside? ▼
In 2024, Mountainside reported 1 violent crimes and 24 property crimes, for a total of 25 reported offenses.
How do Mountainside's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Mountainside recorded about one reported offense per 282 residents and one reported violent offense per 7053 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Mountainside? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Mountainside's violent crime rate decreased by 1.4%, and the property crime rate increased by 48%.
What is the most common crime in Mountainside? ▼
The most common crime type in Mountainside is larceny-theft, accounting for 64.0% of all reported crimes (16 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Mountainside is sourced from FBI UCR Table 8 for 2024; rates use that row's population.
Small-city rows use the same per-100,000 formula; a few unreported years can leave gaps in the trend table. Verify the agency's submission on FBI.gov UCR.
Disclaimer (small city): UCR counts here are informational only. They are not a victimization probability. Source: FBI UCR Program.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Mountainside, NJ rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.