Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Ocean Township reports less crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns
None of the 4 towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. On top of that, in a usual year, 0.2 violent crime and 2.6 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the rest of New Jersey, 2.1 and 13.8. A Safety Grade of A+ follows from crimes Ocean Township’s police reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #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 Ocean Township
Ocean Township reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 4 New Jersey towns on Ocean Township’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Barnegat Township (A), Lacey Township (B+), Berkeley Township (B+), Long Beach Township (B−). Neighbors ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Ocean 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; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Ocean Township | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Ocean Township’s 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 Ocean Township 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.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Ocean Township property | Rest of New Jersey property | Ocean Township violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.2 | 13.9 | 0.2 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 2.5 | 14.8 | 0.2 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 3.0 | 14.0 | 0.2 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 2.2 | 12.6 | 0.2 | 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.
23 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 21 property, as reported to the FBI by Ocean Township’s police.
Five people died in crashes on Ocean Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Ocean Township had 5 fatal crashes in five years, in which five people died.
That is more than 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 Ocean Township’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ocean Township’s own rate (11.1) 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.
Ocean Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean Township | A+ | 0.2 | 2.6 |
| Lacey Township | B+ | 0.8 | 8.2 |
| Berkeley Township | B+ | 1.3 | 7.1 |
| Barnegat Township | A | 0.9 | 2.2 |
| Long Beach Township | B− | 1.3 | 13.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean Township | A+ | 0.2 | 2.6 |
| Caldwell | A | 0.5 | 3.7 |
| Mansfield Township | A− | 0.9 | 6.0 |
| Ventnor City | C− | 1.2 | 28.0 |
| Westampton Township | C− | 3.2 | 20.8 |
| Absecon | C− | 2.6 | 25.3 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Ocean Township’s population (9,314), 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 Ocean 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 Ocean Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (9,358 in 2025); our figure for Ocean Township is 9,314 (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 Ocean Township
Is Ocean Township, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Ocean 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 0.2 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 Ocean Township?
0.2 violent and 2.6 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 Ocean Township safer than Lacey Township?
Lacey Township reports more crime per resident than Ocean Township: Lacey Township grades B+ for safety and Ocean Township A+. Lacey Township’s police reported 0.8 violent and 8.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Ocean Township?
Ocean Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Ocean Township, Ocean County”. 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 Ocean Township.
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.