The Heights is a neighborhood of 55,900 residents in Jersey City, about 2 miles north of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is The Heights in Jersey City safe?
Crime in The Heights is high by national standards, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of C-. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 87% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than The Heights. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, B+ against F. Jersey City as a whole grades B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within The Heights run from B+ to F, so check the map below.
C-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 359 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
13% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than The Heights as a whole, and 87% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. The Heights scores 359.
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 The Heights, Jersey City, NJ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in The Heights in Jersey City, 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 The Heights
Burglary is a strength. The Heights grades F for property crime, but burglary grades A-.
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Jersey City as a whole, 86% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
How The Heights compares within Jersey City
High crime is widespread across The Heights: 64% of residents live in areas graded D or F, and 9% in areas graded A or B. Grades across The Heights run from B+ to F; every part of The Heights has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
27%64%
A or B 9%C 27%D or F 64%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
The Heights has less crime than 3 of the 8 neighborhoods in Jersey City. It covers much of the Heights area.
Is crime going up in Jersey City?
Reported crime in Jersey City as a whole has held about steady since 2019: violent crime is up 4% and property crime up 3%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.3 to 5.5 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 19 to 20 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 19%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Jersey CityUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Jersey City. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Jersey City
Violent, US
Property, Jersey City
Property, US
2016
-8%
+4%
-11%
+15%
2017
-2%
+4%
-4%
+12%
2018
-12%
+0%
-6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-25%
+4%
-30%
-8%
2021
-42%
+6%
-40%
-10%
2022
-20%
+5%
-8%
-6%
2023
-12%
+2%
-5%
-7%
2024
+4%
-4%
+3%
-15%
Crime rates and types in The Heights
CrimeGrade™ estimates The Heights has about 40 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 8% more than the US as a whole and close to Jersey City as a whole.
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 is the most common crime in The Heights, about 33% of everything reported, but assault 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 Jersey City
The Jersey City Police Department polices The Heights; these figures cover Jersey City as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Jersey City as a whole, 64% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (64%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (82%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (86%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (49%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (41%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (43%)
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 The Heights compares with nearby neighborhoods
The Heights has more crime than 8 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. The Waterfront and Tribeca have the least crime nearby.
Parking lots, walkability and density in The Heights
Two things set The Heights apart: it has 0.1 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and a Walk Grade of A (86 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole. 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 92% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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. 91% of residents here live in walkable areas.A (86 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 89% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.98% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 88% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.2% where people liveUS: 21%Lower than for 83% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 The Heights
Crime costs The Heights about $1,020 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 15% 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 $59 million a year, or $1,054 per resident.
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 The Heights 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 The Heights, Jersey City, NJ average a SchoolGrade of C+: 44% of students test proficient, against 31% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in The Heights on SchoolGrade
