The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in East Orange, NJ
East Orange is the eighth-largest city in New Jersey, with 69,500 residents in Essex County, about 12 miles west of Midtown Manhattan · Updated November 2026
Is East Orange, NJ safe?
East Orange is among the higher-crime places in the US: an overall CrimeGrade™ of D, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 90% of Americans live. Violent crime grades C and property crime F. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within East Orange run from B+ to F, so check the map below.
D
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 199 of 1,000Less safe than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
10% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than East Orange as a whole, and 90% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. East Orange scores 199.
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 East Orange, NJ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in East Orange, 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 East Orange
Burglary is a strength. East Orange grades F for property crime, but burglary grades A, better than in the neighborhoods where 55% of Americans live.
Car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In East Orange, 57% of reported car thefts happen on streets and sidewalks, against 27% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of East Orange
In East Orange, 15% of residents live in areas graded A or B, 12% in areas graded C and 73% in areas graded D or F. Grades across East Orange run from B+ to F; every part of East Orange has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
15%12%73%
A or B 15%C 12%D or F 73%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within East Orange, the north side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in East Orange?
Reported crime in East Orange has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 13% and property crime up 40%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.2 to 4.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 14 to 19 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
East OrangeUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves East Orange. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, East Orange
Violent, US
Property, East Orange
Property, US
2016
+59%
+4%
+1%
+15%
2017
+73%
+4%
+19%
+12%
2018
+22%
+0%
+1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-0%
+4%
-15%
-8%
2021
+26%
+6%
+3%
-10%
2022
+40%
+5%
+35%
-6%
2023
+10%
+2%
+39%
-7%
2024
+14%
-4%
+40%
-15%
Crime rates and types in East Orange
CrimeGrade™ estimates East Orange has about 42 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 13% more than the US as a whole and 52% 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.
Assault is the most common crime in East Orange, about 33% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
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 East Orange
East Orange has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In East Orange, 79% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 47% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (79%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (57%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (47%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (42%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (37%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (54%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How East Orange compares with nearby cities
East Orange has more crime than 8 of its 9 nearest cities. Glen Ridge and South Orange have the least crime nearby.
Parking lots, density and walkability in East Orange
Two things set East Orange apart: it has 0.2 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 93% 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.0.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 96% 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.93% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 96% 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 (58 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 East Orange: C (34 of 100).20 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 91% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.5.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 91% 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 East Orange
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs East Orange about $1,496 a year per household, 24% more 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 $140 million a year, or $2,015 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$9.9 million
$143
Rape
$1.5 million
$22
Robbery
$2.5 million
$36
Assault
$12 million
$170
Burglary
$680,000
$10
Theft
$4.5 million
$64
Vehicle theft
$6.6 million
$95
Arson
$150,000
$2
Vandalism
$3.3 million
$48
Total
$41 million
$589
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 East Orange 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 East Orange, NJ average a SchoolGrade of D-: 26% of students test proficient, against 21% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in East Orange on SchoolGrade
