Car insurance in Camden costs around $2,900 a year for full coverage. That's actually below New Jersey's statewide average of $3,268 — a strange number for a city that also has one of the highest car theft rates in the United States, with more than 900 vehicles stolen in a single recent year.

A Theft Rate That Ranks Among the Worst in the Country

Camden's motor vehicle theft rate sits roughly 442% above the national average. Put another way: the odds of a car parked in Camden getting stolen run close to 1 in 99 in a given year. Few cities anywhere in the country post numbers that high.

That kind of theft exposure is exactly what comprehensive coverage exists to price. So why doesn't Camden's overall premium average reflect it more sharply?

The Average Hides What Drivers Actually Buy

Camden's median household income runs around $28,623 — well under the New Jersey median. A lot of drivers here carry New Jersey's Basic Policy, which drops bodily injury liability entirely and caps coverage at $5,000 in property damage plus $15,000 in PIP, or they carry Standard liability without comprehensive at all on an older, paid-off car.

None of those policies respond to a stolen vehicle. When a citywide average blends minimum-liability policies with full-coverage ones, the theft risk that would otherwise dominate the number gets diluted by all the drivers who simply aren't insured against it.

Where Theft Actually Shows Up on a Bill

If you finance or lease your car, your lender almost certainly requires comprehensive coverage — and that's the line item that carries Camden's theft history. Two drivers with identical liability limits can see very different comprehensive premiums depending on whether their insurer weights stolen-vehicle data heavily for the ZIP code.

Liability and PIP pricing, by contrast, track injury and property-damage claims more than theft counts, which is part of why the all-in citywide average doesn't spike the way a theft-only statistic would suggest.

Camden Isn't One ZIP Code

Camden spans several ZIP codes — 08102, 08103, 08104, and 08105 among them — stretching from the waterfront redevelopment corridor along the Delaware River, near the Ben Franklin Bridge approach, back through residential neighborhoods along Route 130 and I-676. Theft and break-in reports aren't even across that footprint.

A car garaged near the bridge-adjacent commercial corridor can quote differently on comprehensive than one parked on a quieter residential block a mile inland, so a citywide average is a starting point, not a final answer.

What New Jersey Still Requires

None of Camden's local risk factors change the state floor. As of January 1, 2026, a Standard Policy in New Jersey requires at least $35,000 in bodily injury liability per person, $70,000 per accident, and $25,000 in property damage, plus $15,000 in PIP under the state's no-fault system. The Basic Policy alternative — $5,000 property damage, $15,000 PIP, no bodily injury requirement — stayed at its older limits through the 2026 change.

  • Shop comprehensive coverage separately: theft risk is priced into that one line, and carriers weight it differently.
  • Ask about anti-theft discounts: alarms, steering wheel locks, and off-street parking can all move the number.
  • Re-shop after any 2026 renewal: the new 35/70/25 floor may already be built into a premium nobody has compared elsewhere.
  • Weigh Basic vs. Standard carefully: the cheaper Basic Policy limits your right to sue after an accident, which matters in a city with heavy bridge-corridor traffic.

For a closer look at how much coverage to carry above the state floor, see our minimum vs. full coverage guide.

The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance publishes current Standard and Basic Policy minimums and takes complaints against licensed carriers — worth checking before signing with an insurer you haven't used before.

The paradox holds up under scrutiny: Camden's theft rate is genuinely one of the worst in the country, and its overall premium average is genuinely below the state's. Both are true at once, because the average counts every policy, not just the ones actually exposed to a stolen car. Quote comprehensive coverage on its own before assuming a below-average citywide number applies to you.