The 10 Safest Newark, NJ Neighborhoods For 2026

The safest Newark neighborhoods are Weequahic and Upper Vailsburg for 2026 based on Saturday Night Science.

Every city has safe neighborhoods and dangerous neighborhoods. We believe you should know which neighborhoods in Newark are the safest before you move.

Every year, more than 30 million Americans move. Sometimes, it’s for a job, other times it’s to escape the big city. But no matter where you move, you want a neighborhood that’s family friendly, clean, and most importantly, safe.

We’ve analyzed the FBI crime report’s data on violent and property crimes for every single neighborhood in Newark. Then, we calculated your chances of being the victim of a crime in each one.

What Newark neighborhoods can you leave your doors unlocked at night? Here’s the list.

1

No. 1 safest neighborhood in Newark

Weequahic, NJ

20,316 people
Located in Essex County, New Jersey
6

No. 6 safest neighborhood in Newark

Forest Hill, NJ

22,701 people
Located in Essex County, New Jersey
9

No. 9 safest neighborhood in Newark

North Broadway, NJ

10,921 people
Located in Essex County, New Jersey

The receipts

Compare the top ten

Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is New Jersey’s statewide median.

City Violent crime /100k vs NJ
1 Weequahic 455
2 Upper Vailsburg 472
3 South Ironbound 490
4 North Ironbound 525
5 Upper Clinton Hill 538
6 Forest Hill 548
7 Lower Vailsburg 555
8 Upper Roseville 567
9 North Broadway 586
City Property crime /100k vs NJ
1 Weequahic 2,065
2 Upper Vailsburg 2,141
3 South Ironbound 2,223
4 North Ironbound 2,380
5 Upper Clinton Hill 2,440
6 Forest Hill 2,484
7 Lower Vailsburg 2,515
8 Upper Roseville 2,574
9 North Broadway 2,658

Saturday Night Science

Methodology: How we determined the safest Newark hoods in 2026

You can ask people which neighborhoods are the safest, or you can look at the unbiased raw data. We choose data.

Instead of relying on speculation and opinion, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the numbers from the FBI’s most recent crime report for every neighborhood in Newark.

To be more specific, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. We then ran an analysis to calculate each neighborhood’s property and violent crimes per capita. We used the following criteria:

  • Total Crimes Per Capita
  • Violent Crimes Per Capita
  • Property Crimes Per Capita

We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 20 in each category, where 1 was the safest.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a safe neighborhood index.

Finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest safest neighborhood index the “Safest City Neighborhood In Newark.” We’re lookin’ at you, Weequahic.

We updated this article for 2026. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from safest to most dangerous.

The full plate

Detailed list of the safest neighborhoods to live in Newark for 2026

Click any column to sort. Search by neighborhood name.

RankNeighborhoodCrime Per 100K
1Weequahic
2Upper Vailsburg
3South Ironbound
4North Ironbound
5Upper Clinton Hill
6Forest Hill
7Lower Vailsburg
8Upper Roseville
9North Broadway
10Central Business District
11Fairmuont
12Mount Pleasant
13University Heights
14Lower Clinton Hill
15Seventh Avenue
16West Side
17Lower Roseville
18South Broad Street
19Dayton-Weequahic Park
20Springfield-Belmont

Source: FBI UCR. All 20 Newark neighborhoods.

Summary

Summary: The safest places in Newark

Looking at the data, you can tell that Weequahic is as safe as they come, according to science and data.

The safest neighborhoods in Newark are Weequahic, Upper Vailsburg, South Ironbound, North Ironbound, Upper Clinton Hill, Forest Hill, Lower Vailsburg, Upper Roseville, North Broadway, and Central Business District.

But as most New Jersey residents would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So make sure you’re informed ahead of time.

We ranked the neighborhoods from safest to most dangerous in the chart below. Not sold on New Jersey? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.

Questions and answers

Safest Neighborhoods In Newark FAQs

What is the safest neighborhood in Newark?

Weequahic is the safest neighborhood in Newark for 2026, based on FBI crime data. Upper Vailsburg and South Ironbound are next.

What are the safest neighborhoods in Newark?

The safest neighborhoods in Newark are Weequahic, Upper Vailsburg, South Ironbound, North Ironbound, Upper Clinton Hill, Forest Hill, Lower Vailsburg, Upper Roseville, North Broadway, and Central Business District. We ranked all 20 neighborhoods in the city.

How do you measure neighborhood safety?

Neighborhoods are ranked on violent and property crimes per capita, using FBI crime data mapped to each neighborhood. The lowest combined crime rate wins.

Which neighborhood ranked last for safety?

Springfield-Belmont posts the highest crime rate of the 20 Newark neighborhoods we scored. Our separate worst neighborhoods in Newark ranking digs into that end of the list.

Does a low crime rate guarantee safety?

No. Crime rates are averages across a whole neighborhood, and conditions change block by block and hour by hour. The numbers tell you where the odds are best, not that anywhere is risk-free.

Chris Kolmar
About the author

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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