West Side, Newark, NJ Violent Crime Rates and Maps
West Side is a neighborhood of 43,000 residents in Newark, about 2 miles east of downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in West Side?
West Side grades D- for violent crime, with more of it than the neighborhoods where 93% of Americans live. Assaults make up 88% 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.
D-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 137 of 1,000More violent crime than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
7% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than West Side as a whole, and 93% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. West Side scores 137.
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 West Side, Newark, NJ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in West Side 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 West Side
Robberies run high. West Side has robberies at about triple the US rate: 2.0 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
How West Side compares within Newark
Violent crime varies widely across West Side: 40% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 37% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across West Side run from B+ to F.
40%23%37%
A or B 40%C 23%D or F 37%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
West Side has less violent crime than 6 of the 19 neighborhoods in Newark. It covers much of the West Side and Lower Vailsburg 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 West Side
CrimeGrade™ estimates West Side has about 20 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 52% more than the US as a whole and 23% more 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 West Side, about 88% 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.
Violent crime in West Side and nearby neighborhoods
Of the 10 neighborhoods closest to West Side, 8 have less violent crime. Hackensack Riverfront and Central Business District have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from West Side. 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, West Side has more violent crime than 82% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set West Side apart: it has a Walk Grade of A (80 of 100) on BestNeighborhood, against 21 for the US as a whole, and 94% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report more assault, and it runs high here.
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. 78% of residents here live in walkable areas.A (80 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 84% 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.94% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 79% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.16 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 78% 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 West Side: C (39 of 100).29 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 78% 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 West Side
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs West Side about $115 million a year, or $2,681 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $23 million, or $542 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. West Side 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.
