Union is a township of 55,500 in Union County, about 15 miles west of Midtown Manhattan · Updated November 2026
Is Union, NJ safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A- means crime in Union is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Union sits near the middle: 46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades A and property crime B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Union run from A to C-, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 816 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
46% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Union as a whole, and 54% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Union scores 816.
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 Union, NJ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Union, 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 Union
Aggravated assaults and simple assaults both run low. In Union, each runs at a small fraction of the US rate: 0.52 aggravated assaults and 2.4 simple assaults a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 and 9.7 nationally.
Car thefts happen in the morning far more often than nationally. In Union, 61% of reported car thefts happen in the morning (6 am to noon), against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Union
Most of Union grades well: 98% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Union run from A to C-; 29% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
98%
A or B 98%C 2%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Union, the west side has the least crime and the northeast side the most.
Is crime going up in Union?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Union is up 21%, while property crime has held about steady. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 0.7 to 0.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts stayed at about 16 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 20%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
UnionUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Union. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Union
Violent, US
Property, Union
Property, US
2016
+45%
+4%
-3%
+15%
2017
+65%
+4%
+8%
+12%
2018
+4%
+0%
+4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+34%
+4%
-18%
-8%
2021
+44%
+6%
-10%
-10%
2022
+28%
+5%
+3%
-6%
2023
+24%
+2%
+29%
-7%
2024
+21%
-4%
+3%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Union
CrimeGrade™ estimates Union has about 22 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 42% less than the US as a whole and 22% 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.
Theft is the most common crime in Union, about 61% 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.
The Union Township Police Department counts vandalism differently from the national definition, so CrimeGrade™ makes its own vandalism estimate.
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 Union
Union has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Union, 64% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often on streets and sidewalks: 39% of them, against 18% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (64%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (32%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (39%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (53%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Aggravated assault
Homes (69%)
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 Union compares with nearby cities
Union has less crime than 5 of its 10 nearest cities.
Night lighting, parking lots and walkability in Union
Two things set Union apart: it has 0.6 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 2.9% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
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
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.6 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 89% 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.C (36 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 85% 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.2.9% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 88% 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.54% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 85% 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 Union: C- (30 of 100).9 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 84% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Union 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 Union
Crime costs Union about $688 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 43% 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 $39 million a year, or $699 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$3.6 million
$65
Rape
$110,000
$2
Robbery
$450,000
$8
Assault
$1.8 million
$32
Burglary
$450,000
$8
Theft
$3.8 million
$68
Vehicle theft
$1.2 million
$22
Arson
$34,000
$1
Vandalism
$1.1 million
$20
Total
$13 million
$226
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 Union 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 Union, NJ average a SchoolGrade of D+: 36% of students test proficient, against 25% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Union on SchoolGrade
