Middletown, Jackson Among Safest Cities in NJ

A list of the safest cities in New Jersey in 2014 is out, and several Jersey Shore towns made the cut!

The report comes from ValuePenguin, a financial research and analytics firm.

First things first, they use the term 'city' to refer to any town, not just the bustling, urban environments we think of as 'cities.' Keep that in mind for these rankings.

When it comes to safest 'big cities', both Monmouth and Ocean County are represented in the top 5!

Safest Big Cities (towns with populations over 45,000):

1. Parsippany-Troy Hills
2. Bridgewater
3. Middletown
4. Jackson
5. Piscataway

When it comes to the overall safest towns in the state, the Jersey Shore has two spots in the top 20: Spring Lake Heights at #15, and Island Heights at #20.

Unfortunately we also have some of the least safe places, with Asbury Park listed as the third least safe place in the state (Atlantic City is at 2, and Wildwood is apparently the least safe.)

As for how they came up with the rankings? They basically took FBI crime statistics and 'standardized' the data based on population. You can read about the methodology HERE.

I do feel the need to call shenanigans, however, because somehow Camden is nowhere to be found on the 'least safe' list and...let's be serious. I'd take Asbury and AC over Camden ANY day, standardized data be damned!