Photo: Nicholas A. Tonelli on Flickr · CC BY 2.0Independence Township reports less crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Independence Township’s police in 2023–2025, it grades A+ for safety: #15 of 342 graded towns in 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 Independence Township
Independence Township reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 5 New Jersey towns on Independence Township’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Hackettstown (A), Mansfield Township (B+). Allamuchy Township, Liberty Township and Frelinghuysen Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025. Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Independence Township’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 lower than in most U.S. towns; property crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Independence Township’s police reported 7 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.4 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 | Independence Township | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 3 property crimes reported
And about 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.
Reported crime is steady
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Independence Township property | Rest of New Jersey property | Independence Township violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.3 | 13.9 | 0.4 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 1.1 | 14.8 | 0.2 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 0.7 | 14.0 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 2.5 | 12.6 | 0.5 | 2.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
17 crimes reported in 2025
3 violent and 14 property, as reported to the FBI by Independence 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.
No one died in a crash on Independence Township’s roads in 2019–2023
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 Independence Township’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Independence Township’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.
Independence Township and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independence Township | A+ | 0.4 | 1.4 |
| Hackettstown | A | 0.2 | 5.3 |
| Allamuchy Township | — | — | — |
| Mansfield Township | B+ | 0.2 | 11.6 |
| Liberty Township | — | — | — |
| Frelinghuysen Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Allamuchy Township, Liberty Township and Frelinghuysen Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independence Township | A+ | 0.4 | 1.4 |
| Andover Township | A+ | 0.2 | 2.5 |
| Blairstown Township | A | 0.9 | 2.6 |
| Jamesburg | A | 0.3 | 5.4 |
| Greenwich Township | C+ | 0.1 | 24.0 |
| Somerdale | D | 2.5 | 48.9 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Independence Township’s population (5,666), 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 Independence 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 Independence Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (5,700 in 2025); our figure for Independence Township is 5,666 (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 Independence Township
Is Independence Township, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Independence Township reports less crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, an A+ Safety Grade and #15 of 342 in New Jersey. Its police reported 0.4 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 Independence Township?
0.4 violent and 1.4 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 crime going up or down in Independence Township?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Independence Township safer than Hackettstown?
Hackettstown reports more crime per resident than Independence Township: Hackettstown grades A for safety and Independence Township A+. Hackettstown’s police reported 0.2 violent and 5.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Independence Township?
Independence Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Independence Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Independence Township.
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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.