Newton, NJ is close to the national middle for violent crime, and earns an A PlainCrime safety grade, where violent crime runs 58% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Newton, NJ shows violent crime at 146.2 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 743.4 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 58% 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
146.2/100K violent
743.4/100K property
-58% vs U.S.
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Newton, NJ
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window higher
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 74.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 146.2 in 2024 (+95.2%). The highest observed value was 188.4 in 2021 and the lowest 74.9 in 2020. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Small-count caution
The violent-crime count is small enough that the derived rate is unstable
Newton reported 12 violent offences in 2024 against a population of 8,206. 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
Newton's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New Jersey cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Newton's 146.2 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Egg Harbor Township (146.2), Palmyra (146.5), Maywood (146.6), Florence Township (147.0). 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
Newton sits mid-pack among comparable New Jersey cities
At 146.2 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Newton ranks 110 of 417 — above 307 of the 416 other New Jersey cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +114.6% 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 16.4% of the 73 Part I offenses reported in Newton for 2024, against a median of 7.1% across comparable New Jersey cities — a gap of 9.3 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-offense composition
Larceny-theft dominates the property total more than it does across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 95.1% of reported property offenses in Newton, against a cohort median of 82.0%. The remainder is burglary (0) and motor vehicle theft (3). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Newton'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 12 reported violent incidents in a population of 8,206. 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.
Newton's 2024 municipal footprint
Across 3.4 Census sq mi, Newton logged 18.2 property and 3.6 violent offenses per square mile in 2024.
Newton's 2024 book concentrates in larceny-theft (79% of 73 offenses; mix index 6,525).
Violent offenses are 16% of the municipal total; property offenses still dominate the count.
Density uses Census Gazetteer land area (3.4 sq mi); mix index is HHI x 10,000 on the offense-type shares above. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero.
Both rates shifted (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-16.9%
176 → 146.2/100K
Property Crime Rate
+17.3%
633.5 → 743.4/100K
Property offenses lead Newton's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
61
743.4
1711
Larceny-Theft
58
706.8
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
3
36.6
-
Burglary
0
0
-
Arson
0
0
-
Violent Crime
12
146.2
352
Aggravated Assault
10
121.9
-
Rape
2
24.4
-
Murder
0
0
-
Robbery
0
0
-
Newton Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Newton property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averagesRead the chart as a list
Newton: 146 violent, 743 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Glen Ridge: 24 violent, 1196 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Spotswood: 158 violent, 716 property per 100,000 (grade A)
Fairfield Township, Essex County: 25 violent, 871 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Riverside Township: 248 violent, 1053 property per 100,000 (grade B)
Butler: 36 violent, 503 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Oradell: 48 violent, 168 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Bedminster Township: 24 violent, 383 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
North Hanover Township: 37 violent, 125 property per 100,000 (grade A+)
Newton Police Department
Reporting agency for Newton NIBRS-participating
Newton Police Department filed the 2024 UCR row behind Newton's 73 reported offenses (5-year span 2020-2024).
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 Newton in population. Their populations run from 8,024 to 8,360, against 8,206 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
In 2024, Newton reported 12 violent crimes and 61 property crimes, for a total of 73 reported offenses.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Newton?
From 2023 to 2024, Newton's violent crime rate decreased by 16.9%, and the property crime rate increased by 17.3%.
What is the most common crime in Newton?
The most common crime type in Newton is larceny-theft, accounting for 79.5% of all reported crimes (58 incidents in 2024).
Small-city read: Newton 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 Newton, NJ rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.