Independence Township, New Jersey Had Zero Reports of This Property Crime in 2019

Samuel Stebbins

Published: December 1, 2020 3:57 pm

Larceny-theft — defined as the unlawful taking of property — is the most common form of property crime in the United States. Pickpocketing, shoplifting, and bicycle theft are some common examples of larceny. While larceny includes theft of property of any value, the vast majority of larceny cases reported are of items worth $200 or more, according to the FBI.

Larceny has become far less common in the U.S. in recent years. In the last decade, the number of reported larceny cases fell by nearly 19%. In 2019, the most recent year of available data, the FBI tallied about 5.1 million cases of larceny nationwide — or 1,550 incidents for every 100,000 people.

The FBI tracked cases of larceny in 4,555 U.S. cities with populations of at least 5,000 in 2019 — and Independence Township, New Jersey, is one of only eight to report no known cases of larceny that year.

Across all of New Jersey, larceny-theft is less common than it is nationwide. There were a total of 91,902 cases of larceny reported in New Jersey in 2019, or 1,035 for every 100,000 people. Of all 50 states, New Jersey has the the fifth lowest larceny-theft rate.

It is important to note that in smaller cities, like Independence Township, which is home to just 5,420, even a handful of incidents of larceny-theft can drive up the rate substantially. As a result, the larceny rate in Independence Township is more subject to year-over-year volatility compared to larger cities.

Larceny-theft is just one type of crime tracked by the FBI. To provide a more comprehensive view of overall crime levels across the country, 24/7 Wall St. recently published extensive crime reports with data visualizations for over 4,000 cities and all 50 states. These reports contain all components of property and violent crime tracked by the FBI. Click here to see the full list of cities with visualized data.