Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Elmwood Park records more property crime per head than three in four U.S. towns
One of the 2 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. For every 1,000 residents, 2.3 violent crimes and 19.5 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the rest of New Jersey, the figures are 2.1 and 13.7. Overall, Elmwood Park grades C for safety (#284 of 342 graded towns in New Jersey): more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported 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 Elmwood Park
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 3 New Jersey towns on Elmwood Park’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Garfield (C+), Paterson (D). Fair Lawn reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Neighbors ↓
Among New Jersey towns, lower
New Jersey’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Elmwood Park’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 17% of the 342 New Jersey towns we grade, against 30% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Elmwood Park’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 higher than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the closer of the two to typical. Its violent rate (2.3) is below the FBI’s national estimate (3.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Elmwood Park | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Elmwood Park’s police reported 151 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 2.3 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.1 in the rest of New Jersey and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Elmwood Park 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 2 violent crimes, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Elmwood Park property | Rest of New Jersey property | Elmwood Park violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13.4 | 13.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 17.1 | 14.7 | 2.6 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 22.5 | 14.0 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 18.7 | 12.6 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of New Jersey.
454 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.
47 violent and 407 property, as reported to the FBI by Elmwood Park’s police.
Four people died in crashes on Elmwood Park’s roads in 2019–2023
Elmwood Park had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died; 2 were pedestrians. Most of these deaths (2 of 4) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
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 Elmwood Park’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Elmwood Park’s own rate (3.7) 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.
Elmwood Park and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elmwood Park | C | 2.3 | 19.5 |
| Paterson | D | 9.0 | 23.7 |
| Fair Lawn | — | — | — |
| Garfield | C+ | 1.7 | 16.8 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Fair Lawn reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elmwood Park | C | 2.3 | 19.5 |
| Little Egg Harbor Township | B+ | 0.6 | 8.5 |
| Lower Township | B+ | 1.4 | 6.9 |
| Harrison | C | 2.5 | 17.8 |
| Pleasantville | C | 3.3 | 15.1 |
| Lindenwold | C− | 4.1 | 18.9 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Elmwood Park’s population (21,534), 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 Elmwood Park. 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 Elmwood Park’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (21,733 in 2025); our figure for Elmwood Park is 21,534 (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 Elmwood Park
Is Elmwood Park, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Elmwood Park reports more crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns, a C Safety Grade and #284 of 342 in New Jersey. Its police reported 2.3 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 Elmwood Park?
2.3 violent and 19.5 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 Elmwood Park safer than Paterson?
Paterson reports more crime per resident than Elmwood Park: Paterson grades D for safety and Elmwood Park C. Paterson’s police reported 9.0 violent and 23.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Elmwood Park?
Elmwood Park’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Elmwood Park”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Elmwood Park.
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.