Basking Ridge Named Among Top 10 Safest Cities In New Jersey: Report

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Here's something to feel good about if you are living in the township. Basking Ridge is listed as one of New Jersey's top 10 safest cities, according to a new study done by Safewise.

Bernards Township came in as the 8th safest city in the Garden State for 2o22. This is down slightly from 2021 when the township ranked as 5th safest.

For 2022, the township, which boasts a population of 27,130 with a median income of $151,871 earned top marks with a 0.0 violent crime rate and a 3.0 property crime rate per 1,000 people.

Bernards was the highest-ranked Somerset County town. Sparta Township in Sussex County was the top-ranked city on the list.

Here are how other Somerset County towns ranked in New Jersey:

• 13. Warren Township
• 27. Montgomery Township
• 41. Hillsborough Township
• 49. Branchburg Township
• 64. Bridgewater Township
• 107. Somerville Borough
• 122. Bound Brook
• 131. Franklin Township
• 146. Manville
• 183. North Plainfield

If a city was not on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2020.

For the purposes of this report, the terms "safest" and "dangerous" refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended, officials said.

Some key points from the report:

• New Jersey's violent crime rate dropped nearly 6 percent compared to last year—reporting 2.0 incidents per 1,000 people.
• The state also saw fewer property crimes with the property crime rate falling 13% from 13.3 per 1,000 people to 11.6.
• This is the second consecutive year that New Jersey was among states with the fifth-lowest rate in the nation for violent crime.
• The Garden state is the fourth-lowest in the nation when it comes to property crime.

Click here for the full list and rankings. You can view up to the top 100 safest cities at once or search for a city to see where it ranks.

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