Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0Violent crime per resident is lower in Palisades Park than in 88% of U.S. towns
Year on year, 0.4 violent crime and 6.5 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 2.1 and 13.8 in the rest of New Jersey. The rate the grade counts dropped 36% from 2023 to 2025. Overall, Palisades Park grades A− for safety (#107 of 342 graded towns in New Jersey): less crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Of the 4 towns on its borders with figures, one records less crime per resident.
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 Palisades Park
1 of the 4 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 4 New Jersey towns on Palisades Park’s borders, 4 have a Safety Grade: Leonia (A−), Ridgefield (A−), Ridgefield Park (B+), Fort Lee (B). Neighbors ↓
Among New Jersey towns, closer to the middle
New Jersey’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Palisades Park’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 69% of the 342 New Jersey towns we grade, against 81% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
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 Palisades 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 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 | Palisades Park property | Rest of New Jersey property | Palisades Park violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7.3 | 13.9 | 0.7 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 7.7 | 14.8 | 0.6 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 6.9 | 14.0 | 0.2 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 5.0 | 12.6 | 0.3 | 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 | Palisades Park | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Palisades Park’s police reported 25 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.
Crime in Palisades 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 fewer than 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
110 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.
7 violent and 103 property, as reported to the FBI by Palisades Park’s police.
One person died in crashes on Palisades Park’s roads in 2019–2023
Palisades Park had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is fewer 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 Palisades Park’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Palisades Park’s own rate (1.0) 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.
Palisades Park and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palisades Park | A− | 0.4 | 6.5 |
| Leonia | A− | 0.4 | 6.0 |
| Fort Lee | B | 1.2 | 11.4 |
| Ridgefield Park | B+ | 0.7 | 10.2 |
| Ridgefield | A− | 0.4 | 8.2 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palisades Park | A− | 0.4 | 6.5 |
| Jefferson Township | A+ | 0.3 | 1.9 |
| Sparta Township | A | 0.4 | 3.8 |
| Hawthorne | A− | 0.2 | 8.0 |
| Middle Township | C | 2.9 | 16.9 |
| Maple Shade Township | C− | 3.5 | 18.9 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Palisades Park’s population (20,317), 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 Palisades 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 Palisades Park’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (20,554 in 2025); our figure for Palisades Park is 20,317 (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 Palisades Park
Is Palisades Park, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Palisades Park reports less crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #107 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 Palisades Park?
0.4 violent and 6.5 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 Palisades Park safer than Leonia?
Leonia reports less crime per resident than Palisades Park: Leonia grades A− for safety and Palisades Park A−. Leonia’s police reported 0.4 violent and 6.0 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Palisades Park?
Palisades Park’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Palisades Park”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
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Neighbors looking out for each other in Palisades 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.