New Jersey’s Most Burglarized City Revealed

SafeWise.com dug into the numbers to find the most-burglarized city in every state, including New Jersey — and the results may surprise you.

Burglars clearly don’t play favorites when it comes to city size.

Among the hot spots, 18 cities (37%) have populations over 15,000, while 16 (33%) have fewer than 1,000 residents. New Jersey's most burglarized city falls right in between.

No place is too big — or too small — for a break-in. Let's face it, there aren't any places left that are safe enough that no one has to lock their doors.

New Jersey's Most Burglarized City

Salem City, New Jersey, took the honor for New Jersey's most burglarized city in 2023 -- the last year complete numbers were available, according to SafeWise.

The burglary rate is determined by dividing the total number of reported burglaries by the total population of an area, then multiplying by a standardizing factor, most often

100,000 or, in the case of smaller cities like Salem, 1,000, to make the rate easier to compare across different populations.

Salem City's burglary rate in 2023 was 1.01

To put it in context, Vernon, California, had an alarming 110 burglaries reported among a population of only 208 people.

That works out to 53 burglaries per 100 people — about 6 times more than the next most-burglarized city, Sauget, Illinois, with 8 burglaries per 100 people.

In 2023, Salem City had a burglary rate just over 1 in 100. 43 (87%) of the cities on the list had fewer than 2 burglaries per 100 people.

Maybe Salem City Had a Bad Year

In an attempt to be fair to Salem City, we considered that they could have just had a bad year in 2023.

However, City Data reports that the 2024 crime rate in Salem, NJ, is 557 on the City-Data.com crime index, which is 2.4 times greater than the U.S. average.

It was higher than in 98.1% U.S. cities. Even still, the 2024 Salem crime rate fell by 25% compared to 2023.

If you live in Salem City, this information could be a little disconcerting. Look at it this way. You could live in Vernon, California, with 208 residents and 53 burglaries.