The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Passaic, NJ
Passaic is the tenth-largest city in New Jersey, with 70,000 residents in Passaic County, about 10 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan · Updated November 2026
Is Passaic, NJ safe?
Crime in Passaic is high by national standards, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of C+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 82% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Passaic. Violent crime grades B and property crime D. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Passaic run from A- to F, so check the map below.
C+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 502 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
18% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Passaic as a whole, and 82% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Passaic scores 502.
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 Passaic, NJ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Passaic, 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 Passaic
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Passaic, 96% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
Robbery at more than double the US rate. Passaic has 1.6 robberies a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Passaic
Safety changes a lot from one part of Passaic to the next: 36% of residents live in areas graded A or B, while 41% live in areas graded D or F. Grades across Passaic run from A- to F; every part of Passaic has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
36%23%41%
A or B 36%C 23%D or F 41%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Passaic, the southwest side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in Passaic?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Passaic is up 34%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.3 to 7.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 17 to 18 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 15% and property crime fell 16%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
PassaicUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Passaic. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Passaic
Violent, US
Property, Passaic
Property, US
2016
+7%
+4%
-10%
+15%
2017
+5%
+4%
-5%
+12%
2018
+10%
+0%
+6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-25%
+4%
-16%
-8%
2021
-6%
+6%
-5%
-10%
2022
+2%
+5%
+14%
-6%
2023
+17%
+2%
+25%
-7%
2024
+34%
-4%
+4%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Passaic
CrimeGrade™ estimates Passaic has about 40 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 7% more than the US as a whole and 44% 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.
The largest share of crime reported in Passaic is assault, about 43% of the total. It also makes up 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 Passaic
Passaic has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Passaic, 65% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (65%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (96%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (96%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (65%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (76%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Aggravated assault
Homes (45%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Passaic compares with nearby cities
Passaic has the most crime of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Passaic apart: it has 0.1 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 96% 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.0.1 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 98% 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.96% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 97% 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. 65% of residents here live in walkable areas.B+ (72 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 96% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.2.2% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 94% of US city residents
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 Passaic: C (33 of 100).17 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 90% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Passaic on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Passaic
Crime costs Passaic about $1,672 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 39% 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 $107 million a year, or $1,522 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.9 million
$42
Rape
$720,000
$10
Robbery
$3.4 million
$49
Assault
$17 million
$239
Burglary
$1.0 million
$14
Theft
$5.0 million
$72
Vehicle theft
$2.8 million
$40
Arson
$51,000
$1
Vandalism
$1.4 million
$19
Total
$34 million
$486
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 Passaic 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 Passaic, NJ average a SchoolGrade of F: 20% of students test proficient, against 28% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Passaic on SchoolGrade
