Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0Clifton has no grade of its own; Passaic, 2 miles away, is the nearest that does
Clifton’s police reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023, so there is no Safety Grade: the grade needs all three years, 2023–2025. Inside a 10-mile circle sit 63 graded neighbors.
For every 1,000 residents, about 20 property crimes reported
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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
The years Clifton’s police reported
Show as a table
| Year | Clifton | Rest of New Jersey | Clifton | Rest of New Jersey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 19.3 | 13.8 | 1.0 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | not reported | 14.8 | not reported | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 22.7 | 13.9 | 1.7 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 19.5 | 12.5 | 1.6 | 2.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents, against the rest of New Jersey. A year the department didn’t report in full is a gap, not a zero.
1,911 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.
149 violent and 1,762 property, as reported to the FBI by Clifton’s police.
The nearest New Jersey towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passaic | D | 2 mi | 6.4 | 19.6 |
| Woodland Park | B+ | 3 mi | 0.6 | 10.3 |
| Nutley Township | A− | 3 mi | 0.7 | 6.9 |
| Wallington | B− | 3 mi | 0.8 | 14.4 |
| Garfield | C+ | 3 mi | 1.7 | 16.8 |
| Little Falls Township | A− | 3 mi | 0.9 | 5.8 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Clifton. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Clifton.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
32 people died in crashes on Clifton’s roads in 2019–2023
Clifton had 30 fatal crashes in five years, in which 32 people died; 10 were pedestrians.
That is 7.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for New Jersey towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.8, 102 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.
Clifton and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodland Park | B+ | 0.6 | 10.3 |
| Garfield | C+ | 1.7 | 16.8 |
| Passaic | D | 6.4 | 19.6 |
| Montclair Township | B+ | 1.0 | 7.0 |
| Little Falls Township | A− | 0.9 | 5.8 |
| Paterson | D | 9.0 | 23.7 |
| Rutherford | B+ | 0.4 | 9.0 |
| Nutley Township | A− | 0.7 | 6.9 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
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 Clifton. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Clifton’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (90,406 in 2025); our figure for Clifton is 91,127 (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 Clifton
Is Clifton, NJ safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Clifton. The nearest New Jersey towns with a grade are Passaic (D, 2 mi), Woodland Park (B+, 3 mi), Nutley Township (A−, 3 mi).
Who polices Clifton?
Clifton’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Clifton”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Clifton.
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.