New Jersey school safety

New Jersey spreads its 2,582 public schools across 681 school districts. Most of those districts are small — a few schools, sometimes one. That shape matters for what this page can and can't show you, so it's worth saying first.

Here is what you can learn. For 1,452 New Jersey schools, the 2021-22 federal Civil Rights Data Collection contains discipline and incident records complete enough that we publish a safety score. Those schools earned an A or a B: what they filed is consistent with what schools of the same size and grade range file nationally. For the rest, we publish no score. That is the method working, not a hole in it. A school that reported almost nothing hasn't shown us it is safe — it has shown us a thin record.

Where a school's record is thin enough that schools its size normally report several incidents, or ten or more, we grade the reporting doubtful. In New Jersey, 268 schools fall there — 10.4% of the state, against 11.3% nationally. New Jersey files slightly more verifiable paperwork than the country as a whole. That is a statement about recordkeeping and nothing else. It does not mean New Jersey children are safer than children elsewhere, and a doubtful grade does not mean a school is dangerous. It means we cannot check the numbers.

Why most New Jersey districts aren't ranked

Only 76 of the state's 681 districts have enough scoreable schools to rank. A district needs a real set of believable records before a district-level comparison means anything. With districts this small and this numerous, most don't reach that bar.

Among those that do, Freehold Regional High School District and Mount Olive Township School District each rank safer than 100% of ranked US districts, with all 6 schools in their scored sets complete enough to score. Hillsborough Township Public School District ranks safer than 99%, on 5 of the 9 schools in its scored set. Montgomery Township School District also ranks safer than 99%, on all 5. Trenton Public School District ranks safer than 98%, with 19 of the 20 schools in its scored set scoring.

One caution on all of it: these comparisons are national, not adjusted for state. Differences between states in this data are differences in reporting behavior, not in child safety.

Safest ranked cities in New Jersey

Percentile is against all ranked U.S. cities (higher = safer). Only cities with ≥5 trustworthy-data schools are ranked. Home value is Zillow's ZHVI.

Safest ranked districts

Every New Jersey city with schools

Every New Jersey school district