The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Belleville, NJ
Belleville is a township of 39,100 in Essex County, about 10 miles west of Midtown Manhattan · Updated November 2026
Is Belleville, NJ safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, Belleville has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 73% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A- against C. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Belleville run from A- to D-, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 652 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
27% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Belleville as a whole, and 73% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Belleville scores 652.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Belleville, NJ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Belleville, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Belleville
Burglary is a strength. Belleville grades C for property crime, but burglary grades A.
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Belleville, 89% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Belleville
Most of Belleville grades well: 75% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 12% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Belleville run from A- to D-; 2% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
75%13%12%
A or B 75%C 13%D or F 12%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Belleville, the north side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Crime rates and types in Belleville
CrimeGrade™ estimates Belleville has about 35 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about the same as the US as a whole and 28% more than New Jersey.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft makes up about 41% of crime reported in Belleville. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Belleville
Belleville has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Belleville, 54% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (54%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (91%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (89%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (47%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (53%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Belleville compares with nearby cities
Of the 9 cities closest to Belleville, 8 have less crime. Brookdale and Lyndhurst have the least.
Parking lots, density and walkability in Belleville
Two things set Belleville apart: it has 0.4 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 83% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with little parking-lot space tend to report less theft, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.4 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 93% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.83% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 93% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault.B- (55 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 93% of US city residents
Show all 6
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Belleville: C (33 of 100).13 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 88% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.24 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 81% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Belleville
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Belleville about $949 a year per household, 21% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $34 million a year, or $881 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.2 million
$30
Rape
$600,000
$15
Robbery
$530,000
$13
Assault
$4.8 million
$123
Burglary
$490,000
$12
Theft
$2.9 million
$75
Vehicle theft
$2.4 million
$63
Arson
$28,000
$1
Vandalism
$960,000
$24
Total
$14 million
$358
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Belleville means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Belleville, NJ average a SchoolGrade of D-: 28% of students test proficient, against 21% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Belleville on SchoolGrade
