Photo: Josconklin · CC BY-SA 3.0For violent crime, Scotch Plains Township beats 90% of U.S. towns per resident
Next door, 3 of 5 towns with figures record less crime per resident. Scotch Plains Township’s letter overall is A− (#94 of 342 graded towns in New Jersey): less crime per resident than 84% of U.S. towns, from crimes its police reported through 2023 to 2025. The crimes the grade counts fell 40% per resident from 2023 to 2025. Police counts work out at 0.3 violent crime and 5.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the rest of New Jersey they are 2.1 and 13.8.
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 Scotch Plains Township
3 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 New Jersey towns on Scotch Plains Township’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Fanwood (A), Berkeley Heights Township (A), Westfield (A), Clark Township (C+), Watchung (C−). Plainfield reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025. 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 Scotch Plains 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.
Reported crime per resident, 2023 to 2025
Show as a table
| Year | Scotch Plains Township property | Rest of New Jersey property | Scotch Plains Township violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8.1 | 13.9 | 0.6 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 7.6 | 14.8 | 0.3 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 5.2 | 14.0 | 0.4 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 4.4 | 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 | Scotch Plains Township | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Scotch Plains Township’s police reported 26 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.3 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 Scotch Plains 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.
120 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.
8 violent and 112 property, as reported to the FBI by Scotch Plains Township’s police.
Three people died in crashes on Scotch Plains Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Scotch Plains Township had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which three people died.
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 Scotch Plains Township’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Scotch Plains Township’s own rate (2.4) 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.
Scotch Plains Township and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotch Plains Township | A− | 0.3 | 5.7 |
| Clark Township | C+ | 0.5 | 20.3 |
| Berkeley Heights Township | A | 0.4 | 5.1 |
| Watchung | C− | 0.4 | 38.7 |
| Fanwood | A | 0.2 | 5.0 |
| Westfield | A | 0.1 | 6.5 |
| Plainfield | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Plainfield reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2024 but not 2025.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotch Plains Township | A− | 0.3 | 5.7 |
| Raritan Township | A+ | 0.2 | 1.5 |
| West Milford Township | A | 0.8 | 2.9 |
| Medford Township | A− | 0.8 | 6.8 |
| Burlington Township | B− | 1.7 | 10.3 |
| Carteret | C+ | 2.4 | 11.9 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Scotch Plains Township’s population (25,437), 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 Scotch Plains 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 Scotch Plains Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (25,285 in 2025); our figure for Scotch Plains Township is 25,437 (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 Scotch Plains Township
Is Scotch Plains Township, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Scotch Plains Township reports less crime per resident than 84% of U.S. towns, an A− Safety Grade and #94 of 342 in New Jersey. Its police reported 0.3 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 Scotch Plains Township?
0.3 violent and 5.7 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.
How many homicides were there in Scotch Plains Township in 2025?
Scotch Plains Township’s police reported 0 homicides to the FBI for 2025, 0.0 per 100,000 residents. Across U.S. cities and towns in the FBI’s tables the 2025 figure was 4.6.
Is Scotch Plains Township safer than Clark Township?
Clark Township reports more crime per resident than Scotch Plains Township: Clark Township grades C+ for safety and Scotch Plains Township A−. Clark Township’s police reported 0.5 violent and 20.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Scotch Plains Township?
Scotch Plains Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Scotch Plains Township”. 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 Scotch Plains 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.