The 10 safest places to live in the Garden State are in North Jersey, according to a report from the real estate blog Movoto.
The safest town in the Garden State, Chatham Township, is in Morris County, the report said. Chatham had no violent crimes in 2012, and only 46 property crimes. Residents had just a 1 in 223 chance to be the victim of any crime.
Chatham, a township of 10,452, edged Mahwah in Bergen County for the top honors. Tenafly (No. 9) and Hasbrouck Heights (No. 5) were the other Bergen County municipalities to earn a spot in the top 10, while Florham Park (No. 7) and Lincoln Park (No. 10) in Morris County also made the cut.
Movoto determined its rankings by using the FBI’s report of crime statistics from 2012. They narrowed down the top 10 by analyzing violent crime (rape, murder and assault), property crime (theft, burglary and motor vehicle thefts) and the chance a resident will be a victim of crime.
A municipality must have a population of 10,000 or more to qualify for the list.
Here is Movoto’s top 10:
1. Chatham (Morris)
2. Mahwah (Bergen)
3. Sparta (Sussex)
4. Bernards (Somerset)
5. Hasbrouck Heights (Bergen)
6. Berkeley Heights (Union)
7. Florham Park (Morris)
8. Ringwood (Passaic)
9. Tenafly (Bergen)
10. Lincoln Park (Morris)
The least-safest area in New Jersey is Asbury Park, followed by Camden. Atlantic City, Irvington and Bridgeton were also at the bottom of the list, each with over 1,000 crimes in 2012.
