Photo: NAB1997 · CC BY-SA 4.0Essex Fells records less violent crime per head than 98% of U.S. towns
Next door, 3 of 4 towns with figures record less crime per resident. Essex Fells’s overall Safety Grade is B: close to the middle of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. The rate of property crime is 14.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 13.8 in the rest of New Jersey.
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 Essex Fells
3 of the 4 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 5 New Jersey towns on Essex Fells’ borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Caldwell (A), Verona Township (A), West Caldwell Township (A−), West Orange Township (B−). Roseland reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Essex Fells’ grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Essex Fells’ grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (14.9) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Crime in Essex Fells 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 no 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 | Essex Fells property | Rest of New Jersey property | Essex Fells violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.4 | 13.8 | 0.9 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 17.7 | 14.7 | 0.0 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 0.0 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 14.0 | 12.6 | 0.0 | 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.
31 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.
0 violent and 31 property, as reported to the FBI by Essex Fells’ police.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Essex Fells | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Essex Fells’ police reported 0 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.0 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.1 in the rest of New Jersey and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
No one died in a crash on Essex Fells’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for New Jersey towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (4.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Essex Fells’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Essex Fells’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.
Essex Fells and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Fells | B | 0.0 | 14.9 |
| Roseland | — | — | — |
| Caldwell | A | 0.5 | 3.7 |
| West Caldwell Township | A− | 0.3 | 8.3 |
| West Orange Township | B− | 1.5 | 12.9 |
| Verona Township | A | 0.4 | 5.0 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Roseland reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Fells | B | 0.0 | 14.9 |
| Seaside Park | A | 0.8 | 3.6 |
| Alpha | A− | 0.6 | 6.5 |
| Englishtown | A− | 0.7 | 6.8 |
| Gibbsboro | B− | 1.2 | 15.8 |
| Sea Isle City | D | 2.3 | 33.4 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Essex Fells’ population (2,235), 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 Essex Fells. 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 Essex Fells’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (2,217 in 2025); our figure for Essex Fells is 2,235 (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 Essex Fells
Is Essex Fells, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Essex Fells reports less crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade. Its police reported 0.0 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 Essex Fells?
0.0 violent and 14.9 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 Essex Fells safer than Caldwell?
Caldwell reports less crime per resident than Essex Fells: Caldwell grades A for safety and Essex Fells B. Caldwell’s police reported 0.5 violent and 3.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Essex Fells?
Essex Fells’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Essex Fells”. 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 Essex Fells.
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.