These 25 NJ Towns Have the Most Break-Ins, According to FBI Data

You pull into the driveway and notice the back door is open, even though you know you locked it. For many New Jersey families, that moment is more than a bad dream.

The good news first: break-ins are way down across the Garden State compared to a decade ago, and New Jersey's burglary rate still sits below the national average. But "below average statewide" doesn't mean much if your town is the exception.

READ MORE: 25 NJ Towns Where You're Most Likely To Hit a Deer

How did we crunch the numbers?

So I went looking for the exceptions. Using the latest FBI crime data (2024, the most recent full year available, as compiled by OpenCrime), we pulled burglary numbers for more than 130 New Jersey municipalities and ranked them by burglaries per 1,000 residents.

A few things jumped out right away. South Jersey owns this list. I'm talking Atlantic, Camden, and Cumberland counties. And plenty of towns you wouldn't expect are on this list.

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Every town in our top 25 had a burglary rate above the national average of about 2.3 per 1,000 people. At the top of the list, the odds of a reported break-in work out to roughly 1 in 163 residents.

One important note before you scroll: the FBI's burglary category covers any "unlawful entry to steal," which includes homes, garages, sheds, and businesses. Towns with big retail or commercial areas can rank higher for that reason.

Here are the 25 New Jersey towns with the highest burglary rates, from No. 25 to No. 1.