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 3.0South Amboy sits close to the middle of U.S. towns for reported crime
Taking everything together, South Amboy scores B− (#222 of 342 graded towns in New Jersey): close to the middle of U.S. towns, measured on crimes its police reported between 2023 and 2025. Violence and property crime split as 1.5 violent crimes and 11.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 2.1 and 13.8 in the rest of 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 South Amboy
South Amboy reports less crime than every graded town next door
Of the 2 New Jersey towns on South Amboy’s borders, 1 have a Safety Grade: Perth Amboy (C). Sayreville reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024. Neighbors ↓
Among New Jersey towns, closer to the middle
New Jersey’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so South Amboy’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 35% of the 342 New Jersey towns we grade, against 52% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind South Amboy’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds South Amboy’s grade up; property crime pulls it down. Its property rate (11.7) is below the FBI’s national estimate (17.6) but higher than in most individual towns: the national figure is weighted by people, and the grade counts towns.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | South Amboy | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
South Amboy’s police reported 45 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 1.5 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 South Amboy 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 about 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 | South Amboy property | Rest of New Jersey property | South Amboy violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12.2 | 13.9 | 1.3 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 11.7 | 14.8 | 1.7 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 13.9 | 14.0 | 1.4 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 9.7 | 12.6 | 1.3 | 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.
119 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.
14 violent and 105 property, as reported to the FBI by South Amboy’s police.
One person died in crashes on South Amboy’s roads in 2019–2023
South Amboy had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person 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 South Amboy’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so South Amboy’s own rate (2.0) 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.
South Amboy and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Amboy | B− | 1.5 | 11.7 |
| Sayreville | — | — | — |
| Perth Amboy | C | 3.4 | 12.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Sayreville reported to the FBI for 2023 and 2025 but not 2024.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Amboy | B− | 1.5 | 11.7 |
| River Vale Township | A+ | 0.2 | 2.8 |
| Waldwick | A+ | 0.2 | 2.7 |
| Wood-Ridge | A | 0.4 | 5.2 |
| Waterford Township | A− | 0.1 | 7.0 |
| Burlington | C− | 4.3 | 21.0 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to South Amboy’s population (10,403), 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 South Amboy. 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 South Amboy’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (10,862 in 2025); our figure for South Amboy is 10,403 (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 South Amboy
Is South Amboy, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, South Amboy reports less crime per resident than 52% of U.S. towns, a B− Safety Grade and #222 of 342 in New Jersey. Its police reported 1.5 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 South Amboy?
1.5 violent and 11.7 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.
Is South Amboy safer than Perth Amboy?
Perth Amboy reports more crime per resident than South Amboy: Perth Amboy grades C for safety and South Amboy B−. Perth Amboy’s police reported 3.4 violent and 12.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices South Amboy?
South Amboy’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “South Amboy”. 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 South Amboy.
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.