10 NJ Towns Among 50 Safest In America To Raise A Child: Report

New Jersey has great schools and great places to live. Put that together, one report says, and you have excellent reasons to raise a family in the Garden State.

Ten New Jersey communities rank among the top 50 safest towns to raise a child in the United States, according to the home security experts at the website SafeWise. Indeed, New Jersey has 20 percent of the towns on this new list.

SafeWise said it wanted to take a closer look at safety trends and factors before picking this year’s safest cities to raise a child. "Due to recent news about free-range parenting—Utah even passed a law—we decided to factor that parenting style into our research. We dug deep into eight factors to help us identify the safest cities to raise children—those who remain under close supervision and those who are allowed to wander on their own," the report said.

The top 30 safest cities were highlighted, along with each city’s walkability score, violent crime rate, and overall child safety score, which is a combination of eight factors that were considered. Every city on the list is below the national average for violent crimes (3.97 per 1,000 people).

Here are the top four New Jersey towns and what SafeWise said about them:

Madison (#19)

"This NYC suburb is a bustling community where violent crime is nearly nonexistent. Madison’s current violent crime rate is even lower than when this city placed seventeenth on our 2017 list of the safest cities in New Jersey."

Westwood (#20)

"Westwood has the second-lowest violent crime rate among our top thirty (the city missed first place by just a fraction of a percent!)."

Tenafly (#22)

"Full of hills, valleys, and rows of tall trees, Tenafly is a charming town with abundant parks and woodlands for free-range children to explore. But Tenafly takes care of its youngest citizens both outdoors and inside."

Ridgefield (#25)

"This safe city was featured in The Wedding Singer, and the quaint, small-town vibe displayed in the film is alive and well. Free-range kids in Ridgefield stay safe because they’re adopted by the whole town."

Here is the rest of the list:

• Highland Park (#32)
• Haddonfield (#39)
• Cedar Grove (#40)
• Verona (#42)
• New Providence (#49)
• Raritan Township (#50)

Read the whole report by clicking here.

Image by ESB Professionals Shutterstock.com