Photo: Lithium6ion · Public domainFranklin Lakes records less crime per resident than 94% of U.S. towns
The graded rate fell 67% from 2023 to 2025. Add to that, it has less violent crime than 95% of U.S. towns, and less property crime than 88%. Scored on crimes Franklin Lakes’ police reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on A for safety: #33 of 342 graded towns in New Jersey. Annual rates stand at 0.2 violent crime and 3.5 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 2.1 and 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 Franklin Lakes
Franklin Lakes reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 5 New Jersey towns on Franklin Lakes’ borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Oakland (A), Wayne Township (C+). Mahwah Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Wyckoff Township and North Haledon reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Neighbors ↓
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 Franklin Lakes’ 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Franklin Lakes property | Rest of New Jersey property | Franklin Lakes violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10.6 | 13.9 | 0.2 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 5.2 | 14.8 | 0.1 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 3.7 | 14.0 | 0.3 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 1.6 | 12.6 | 0.2 | 2.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
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.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Franklin Lakes | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Franklin Lakes’ police reported 6 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.2 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 Franklin Lakes 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
20 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.
2 violent and 18 property, as reported to the FBI by Franklin Lakes’ police.
Three people died in crashes on Franklin Lakes’s roads in 2019–2023
Franklin Lakes had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died; 1 was a cyclist. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
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 Franklin Lakes’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Franklin Lakes’s own rate (5.4) 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.
Franklin Lakes and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Lakes | A | 0.2 | 3.5 |
| Mahwah Township | — | — | — |
| Oakland | A | 0.4 | 3.3 |
| Wyckoff Township | — | — | — |
| Wayne Township | C+ | 0.9 | 19.1 |
| North Haledon | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Mahwah Township reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. Wyckoff Township and North Haledon reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Lakes | A | 0.2 | 3.5 |
| Westwood | A | 0.6 | 3.0 |
| Lincoln Park | A | 0.3 | 5.5 |
| Pompton Lakes | A | 0.5 | 4.7 |
| West Caldwell Township | A− | 0.3 | 8.3 |
| Beachwood | B+ | 0.8 | 7.8 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Franklin Lakes’ population (11,180), 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 Franklin Lakes. 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 Franklin Lakes’ residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (11,288 in 2025); our figure for Franklin Lakes is 11,180 (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 Franklin Lakes
Is Franklin Lakes, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Franklin Lakes reports less crime per resident than 94% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #33 of 342 in New Jersey. Its police reported 0.2 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 Franklin Lakes?
0.2 violent and 3.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New Jersey reports 2.1 and 13.8; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is Franklin Lakes safer than Oakland?
Oakland reports more crime per resident than Franklin Lakes: Oakland grades A for safety and Franklin Lakes A. Oakland’s police reported 0.4 violent and 3.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Franklin Lakes?
Franklin Lakes’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Franklin Lakes”. 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 Franklin Lakes.
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.