Photo: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.0Rockaway records less crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns
A Safety Grade of A+ follows from crimes Rockaway’s police reported over the years 2023 to 2025: #28 of 342 graded towns in New Jersey. Out of every 1,000 residents, 0.1 violent crime and 3.3 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 2.1 and 13.8 in the rest of New Jersey. The graded rate fell 56% from 2023 to 2025. It has less violent crime than 97% of U.S. towns, and less property crime than 89%.
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 Rockaway
1 of the 2 graded towns next door reports less crime
Of the 2 New Jersey towns on Rockaway’s borders, 2 have a Safety Grade: Denville Township (A+), Rockaway Township (B+). 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 Rockaway’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 | Rockaway property | Rest of New Jersey property | Rockaway violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.6 | 13.9 | 0.0 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 4.7 | 14.8 | 0.2 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 3.3 | 14.0 | 0.1 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 2.1 | 12.6 | 0.0 | 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 | Rockaway | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.0 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Rockaway’s police reported 2 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.1 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 Rockaway 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.
14 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 14 property, as reported to the FBI by Rockaway’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Rockaway’s roads in 2019–2023
Rockaway had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
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 Rockaway’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Rockaway’s own rate (9.1) 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.
Rockaway and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockaway | A+ | 0.1 | 3.3 |
| Rockaway Township | B+ | 0.5 | 8.9 |
| Denville Township | A+ | 0.1 | 3.3 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockaway | A+ | 0.1 | 3.3 |
| Old Tappan | A | 0.4 | 2.5 |
| Oceanport | A | 0.5 | 4.6 |
| Morris Plains | B+ | 0.2 | 10.6 |
| Eastampton Township | B | 1.5 | 7.4 |
| Watchung | C− | 0.4 | 38.7 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Rockaway’s population (6,631), 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 Rockaway. 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 Rockaway’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,659 in 2025); our figure for Rockaway is 6,631 (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 Rockaway
Is Rockaway, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Rockaway reports less crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns, an A+ Safety Grade and #28 of 342 in New Jersey. Its police reported 0.1 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 Rockaway?
0.1 violent and 3.3 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 Rockaway safer than Rockaway Township?
Rockaway Township reports more crime per resident than Rockaway: Rockaway Township grades B+ for safety and Rockaway A+. Rockaway Township’s police reported 0.5 violent and 8.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Rockaway?
Rockaway’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Rockaway”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Rockaway.
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.