Lower Vailsburg, Newark, NJ Violent Crime Rates and Maps
Lower Vailsburg is a neighborhood of 16,900 residents in Newark, about 4 miles west of downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Lower Vailsburg?
Lower Vailsburg grades B for violent crime, with more of it than the neighborhoods where 80% of Americans live. Assaults make up 91% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Newark as a whole grades C for violent crime.
B
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 622 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
20% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Lower Vailsburg as a whole, and 80% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Lower Vailsburg scores 622.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in Lower Vailsburg, Newark, NJ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Lower Vailsburg in Newark, 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 about violent crime in Lower Vailsburg
Robberies happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Newark as a whole, 75% of reported robberies happen on streets and sidewalks, against 31% nationally.
How Lower Vailsburg compares within Newark
Most of Lower Vailsburg grades well for violent crime: 77% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 4% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across Lower Vailsburg run from A to D+.
77%19%
A or B 77%C 19%D or F 4%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Lower Vailsburg has less violent crime than 14 of the 19 neighborhoods in Newark. It covers much of the West Side and Lower Vailsburg areas and the Upper Vailsburg and Fairmuont areas.
Is violent crime going up in Newark?
Reported violent crime in Newark as a whole peaked in 2021 and has fallen 10% since, back near its 2019 level. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 6.2 to 5.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). In 2024 alone, violent crime rose 18%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
NewarkUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Newark. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Newark
Violent, US
2016
+53%
+4%
2017
+47%
+4%
2018
+19%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-21%
+4%
2021
+3%
+6%
2022
-16%
+5%
2023
-22%
+2%
2024
-8%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Lower Vailsburg
CrimeGrade™ estimates Lower Vailsburg has about 9.4 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 30% less than the US as a whole and 44% less than Newark as a whole.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in Lower Vailsburg, about 91% of the total.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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 violent crime happens in Newark
The Newark Police Department polices Lower Vailsburg; these figures cover Newark as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Newark as a whole, 47% of aggravated assaults happen at a home, against 53% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (75%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (47%)
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.
Violent crime in Lower Vailsburg and nearby neighborhoods
Lower Vailsburg has less violent crime than 8 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods; only Academy Heights and Hutton Park have less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Lower Vailsburg. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Lower Vailsburg is safer than 51% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set Lower Vailsburg apart: it has 4 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 97% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places with few jobs tend to report less robbery.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.4 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 98% 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.97% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 84% 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 assault. 52% of residents here live in walkable areas.B+ (66 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 75% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Lower Vailsburg: C (34 of 100).21 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 72% 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 violent crime costs Lower Vailsburg
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Lower Vailsburg about $16 million a year, or $936 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $3.4 million, or $202 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them. Lower Vailsburg 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
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.
