Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Clark Township reports less violent crime than most U.S. towns, but more property crime
Overall, Clark Township grades C+ for safety (#259 of 342 graded towns in New Jersey): close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Clark Township
4 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 New Jersey towns on Clark Township’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Scotch Plains Township (A−), Cranford Township (A−), Winfield Township (B), Rahway (B). Linden reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024. Neighbors ↓
Among New Jersey towns, lower
New Jersey’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Clark Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 24% of the 342 New Jersey towns we grade, against 41% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A job center
Clark Township has 10,064 jobs based in town for 16,418 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Reported crime is falling
Crime reported per resident fell 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 Clark Township’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Clark Township’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Reported crime is falling
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of New Jersey.
Show as a table
| Year | Clark Township property | Rest of New Jersey property | Clark Township violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 18.0 | 13.8 | 0.5 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 22.3 | 14.7 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 25.3 | 14.0 | 1.0 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 13.6 | 12.6 | 0.2 | 2.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Violent crime, by year and by type
Clark Township’s police reported 25 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.
Show as a table
| Year | Clark Township | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 14 property crimes reported
And fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
227 crimes reported in 2025
3 violent and 224 property, as reported to the FBI by Clark Township’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
10 people died in crashes on Clark Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Clark Township had 10 fatal crashes in five years, in which 10 people died; 5 were pedestrians.
That is 12.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for New Jersey towns of 5,000–25,000 people (4.5, 369 towns).
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.
Clark Township and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clark Township | C+ | 0.5 | 20.3 |
| Scotch Plains Township | A− | 0.3 | 5.7 |
| Winfield Township | B | 0.9 | 11.1 |
| Cranford Township | A− | 0.3 | 7.6 |
| Rahway | B | 1.8 | 8.6 |
| Linden | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Linden reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clark Township | C+ | 0.5 | 20.3 |
| Madison | A+ | 0.1 | 3.6 |
| Readington Township | A | 0.3 | 3.9 |
| South River | A | 0.8 | 3.1 |
| Franklin Township | B | 1.2 | 9.0 |
| North Arlington | B | 0.9 | 11.7 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Clark Township’s population (16,418), by grade.
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 Clark Township. 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 Clark Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (16,469 in 2025); our figure for Clark Township is 16,418 (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 Clark Township
Is Clark Township, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Clark Township reports more crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #259 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 Clark Township?
0.5 violent and 20.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New Jersey reports 2.1 and 13.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Clark Township?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Clark Township safer than Scotch Plains Township?
Scotch Plains Township reports less crime per resident than Clark Township: Scotch Plains Township grades A− for safety and Clark Township C+. Scotch Plains Township’s police reported 0.3 violent and 5.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Clark Township?
Clark Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Clark Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Clark Township.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.