Photo: Lithium6ion · Public domainWayne Township reports less violent crime than most U.S. towns, but more property crime
Overall, Wayne Township grades C+ for safety (#262 of 342 graded towns in New Jersey): more crime per resident than 60% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported to the FBI in 2023–2025.
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 Wayne Township
5 of the 5 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 8 New Jersey towns on Wayne Township’s borders, 5 have a Safety Grade: Lincoln Park (A), Pequannock Township (A), Pompton Lakes (A), Little Falls Township (A−), Fairfield Township (B−). Totowa and North Haledon reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Haledon reported to the FBI for 2025 but not 2023 or 2024. Neighbors ↓
Among New Jersey towns, lower
New Jersey’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Wayne Township’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 23% of the 342 New Jersey towns we grade, against 40% 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 Wayne Township’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Violent crime holds Wayne Township’s grade up; property crime pulls it down.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Wayne Township’s police reported 151 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.1 in the rest of New Jersey and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Wayne Township | Rest of New Jersey | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Reported crime is falling
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.
Show as a table
| Year | Wayne Township property | Rest of New Jersey property | Wayne Township violent | Rest of New Jersey violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 20.2 | 13.8 | 1.0 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 21.2 | 14.7 | 1.0 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 18.6 | 13.9 | 0.9 | 2.2 |
| 2025 | 17.6 | 12.6 | 0.9 | 2.0 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
For every 1,000 residents, about 18 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
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.
996 crimes reported in 2025
50 violent and 946 property, as reported to the FBI by Wayne Township’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
25 people died in crashes on Wayne Township’s roads in 2019–2023
Wayne Township had 21 fatal crashes in five years, in which 25 people died; 8 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist. 6 died in crashes on an Interstate.
That is 9.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for New Jersey towns of 25,000–100,000 people (5.8, 102 towns).
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.
Wayne Township and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne Township | C+ | 0.9 | 19.1 |
| Lincoln Park | A | 0.3 | 5.5 |
| Pequannock Township | A | 0.3 | 5.5 |
| Totowa | — | — | — |
| Pompton Lakes | A | 0.5 | 4.7 |
| Fairfield Township | B− | 0.5 | 15.7 |
| Little Falls Township | A− | 0.9 | 5.8 |
| Haledon | — | — | — |
| North Haledon | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Totowa and North Haledon reported to the FBI for 2024 and 2025 but not 2023. Haledon reported to the FBI for 2025 but not 2023 or 2024.
New Jersey towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne Township | C+ | 0.9 | 19.1 |
| Parsippany-Troy Hills Township | B+ | 0.5 | 8.4 |
| Bloomfield Township | B− | 1.0 | 14.4 |
| West New York | C+ | 2.6 | 13.3 |
| Perth Amboy | C | 3.4 | 12.7 |
| New Brunswick | D | 6.7 | 23.9 |
The five graded New Jersey towns closest to Wayne Township’s population (54,819), by grade.
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 Wayne Township. A citywide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of the city to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Wayne Township’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (53,903 in 2025); our figure for Wayne Township is 54,819 (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 Wayne Township
Is Wayne Township, NJ safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Wayne Township reports more crime per resident than 60% of U.S. towns, a C+ Safety Grade and #262 of 342 in New Jersey. Its police reported 0.9 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 Wayne Township?
0.9 violent and 19.1 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of New Jersey reports 2.1 and 13.7; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Wayne Township?
Reported crime per resident fell from 2023 to 2025, by more than ordinary year-to-year swings.
How many homicides were there in Wayne Township in 2025?
Wayne 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 Wayne Township safer than Lincoln Park?
Lincoln Park reports less crime per resident than Wayne Township: Lincoln Park grades A for safety and Wayne Township C+. Lincoln Park’s police reported 0.3 violent and 5.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Wayne Township?
Wayne Township’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Wayne Township”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Wayne Township.
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
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.