The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Lakewood, NJ
Lakewood is a township of 139,000 in Ocean County, about 50 miles south of Midtown Manhattan · Updated November 2026
Is Lakewood, NJ safe?
Yes, crime in Lakewood is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Lakewood sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 59% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Lakewood run from A+ to B+, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 873 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
59% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Lakewood as a whole, and 41% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Lakewood scores 873.
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 Lakewood, NJ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Lakewood, 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 Lakewood
Vehicle theft runs low. Lakewood has 0.34 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, a small fraction of the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Lakewood
Every part of Lakewood where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Lakewood run from A+ to B+; 75% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Lakewood, the southeast side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Lakewood?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Lakewood is up 10% and property crime is down 34%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 1.4 to 1.5 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 9.1 to 6.0 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
LakewoodUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Lakewood. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Lakewood
Violent, US
Property, Lakewood
Property, US
2016
+21%
+4%
+4%
+15%
2017
-33%
+4%
+0%
+12%
2018
-11%
+0%
-18%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-30%
+4%
-29%
-8%
2021
-36%
+6%
-35%
-10%
2022
-26%
+5%
-16%
-6%
2023
+15%
+2%
-28%
-7%
2024
+10%
-4%
-34%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Lakewood
CrimeGrade™ estimates Lakewood has about 16 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 57% less than the US as a whole and 43% less 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 Lakewood, about 39% 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 Lakewood
Lakewood has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Lakewood, 60% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 41% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (60%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Car theft
Homes (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (41%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Vandalism
Homes (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (46%)
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 Lakewood compares with nearby cities
Of the 9 cities closest to Lakewood, 8 have less crime. Holmansville and Allenwood have the least.
Two things set Lakewood apart: it has 5.3 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 55% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with few stores and restaurants tend to report less theft, and it runs low here.
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
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.5.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 91% 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. 74% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (21 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 61% of US city residents
Show all 6
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.55% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 86% 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 Lakewood: D (16 of 100).4 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 66% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.1.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 56% 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 Lakewood
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Lakewood about $739 a year per household, 39% less than the US figure of $1,205. The total is about $23 million a year.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost rises to about $70 million a year, or $503 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.9 million
$21
Rape
$1.3 million
$10
Robbery
$860,000
$6
Assault
$9.9 million
$71
Burglary
$1.2 million
$8
Theft
$3.7 million
$26
Vehicle theft
$730,000
$5
Arson
$150,000
$1
Vandalism
$2.8 million
$20
Total
$23 million
$168
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 Lakewood 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. Lakewood is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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 Lakewood, NJ average a SchoolGrade of D: 31% of students test proficient, against 46% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Lakewood on SchoolGrade
