Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Butler has less violent crime per resident than four in five U.S. towns
Among its 4 neighbors with figures, 3 record less crime per resident. In a usual year, 0.5 violent crime and 5.6 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of New Jersey, 2.1 and 13.8. That puts it at A− for safety, judged on crimes Butler’s police reported from 2023 to 2025: #104 of 342 graded towns in New Jersey. The graded rate rose 22% from 2023 to 2025.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of NJ” is every other New Jersey city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Butler
3 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 4 New Jersey towns on Butler’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Kinnelon (A+), West Milford Township (A), Bloomingdale (A), Riverdale (C). Neighbors ↓
Among New Jersey towns, closer to the middle
New Jersey’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Butler’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 70% of the 342 New Jersey towns we grade, against 82% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Reported crime is rising
Crime reported per resident rose from 2023 to 2025 by more than ordinary year-to-year swings, on the grade’s own score. Trend ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Butler’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Butler | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Butler’s police reported 13 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.1 in the rest of New Jersey and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Butler property | Rest of New Jersey property | Butler violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.9 | 13.9 | 0.1 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 5.9 | 14.8 | 0.0 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 5.0 | 14.0 | 0.4 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 6.0 | 12.6 | 1.2 | 2.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident rose from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of New Jersey.
Crime in Butler per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
59 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
10 violent and 49 property, as reported to the FBI by Butler’s police.
No one died in a crash on Butler’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for New Jersey towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (4.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Butler’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Butler’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Butler and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butler | A− | 0.5 | 5.6 |
| Bloomingdale | A | 1.0 | 2.6 |
| Kinnelon | A+ | 0.1 | 3.0 |
| Riverdale | C | 0.6 | 26.7 |
| West Milford Township | A | 0.8 | 2.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butler | A− | 0.5 | 5.6 |
| Oradell | A+ | 0.2 | 2.0 |
| Bedminster Township | A | 0.3 | 3.5 |
| Fanwood | A | 0.2 | 5.0 |
| Glen Ridge | B | 0.4 | 13.0 |
| Riverside Township | B− | 2.3 | 8.6 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Butler’s population (8,184), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Butler. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Butler’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (8,229 in 2025); our figure for Butler is 8,184 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Butler
Is Butler, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Butler reports less crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #104 of 342 in New Jersey. Its police reported 0.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.1 in the rest of New Jersey and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Butler?
0.5 violent and 5.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New Jersey reports 2.1 and 13.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Butler safer than Bloomingdale?
Bloomingdale reports less crime per resident than Butler: Bloomingdale grades A for safety and Butler A−. Bloomingdale’s police reported 1.0 violent and 2.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Butler?
Butler’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Butler”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Butler.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.