Crime rates for Paterson, NJ

About Paterson crime rates

The crime rate in Paterson is considerably higher than the national average across all communities in America from the largest to the smallest, although at 42 crimes per one thousand residents, it is not among the communities with the very highest crime rate. The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Paterson is 1 in 24. Based on FBI crime data, Paterson is not one of the safest communities in America. Relative to New Jersey, Paterson has a crime rate that is higher than 89% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes.In fact, after researching dangerous places to live, NeighborhoodScout found Paterson to be one of the top 100 most dangerous cities in the U.S.A.

Importantly, when you compare Paterson to other communities of similar population, then Paterson crime rate (violent and property crimes combined) is quite a bit higher than average. Regardless of how Paterson does relative to all communities in America of all sizes, when NeighborhoodScout compared it to communities of similar population size, its crime rate per thousand residents stands out as higher than most.

The crime data that NeighborhoodScout used for this analysis are the seven offenses from the uniform crime reports, collected by the FBI from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, and include both violent and property crimes, combined.

Now let us turn to take a look at how Paterson does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Paterson.

For Paterson, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included forcible rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Paterson is one in 98.

Significantly, based on the number of murders reported by the FBI and the number of residents living in the city, NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that Paterson experiences one of the higher murder rates in the nation when compared with cities and towns for all sizes of population, from the largest to the smallest.

NeighborhoodScout's analysis also reveals that Paterson's rate for property crime is 32 per one thousand population. This makes Paterson a place where there is an above average chance of becoming a victim of a property crime, when compared to all other communities in America of all population sizes. Property crimes are motor vehicle theft, arson, larceny, and burglary. Your chance of becoming a victim of any of these crimes in Paterson is one in 31.

Importantly, we found that Paterson has one of the highest rates of motor vehicle theft in the nation according to our analysis of FBI crime data. This is compared to communities of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest. In fact, your chance of getting your car stolen if you live in Paterson is one in 139.