Are you sick of being a city slicker?
Do you long for life in suburban New Jersey? Where you can drive an overly-large vehicle to the store for groceries and schlep the kids around to practices and appointments without worrying about a parking space.
We do, too.
If you wanted to move out to the suburbs in New Jersey, where would you go? And how would you decide on the ranking factors to help you pick which New Jersey suburb was best?
No worries. We got it all figured out here using Saturday Night Science.
$186,688 median income · $843,788 median home price
Located in
Bergen County, New Jersey
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$177,962 median income · $738,299 median home price
Located in
Bergen County, New Jersey
Waldwick is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough’s population was 9,625, reflecting an increase of 3 from the 9,622 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn declined by 135 from the 9,757 counted in the 1990 Census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$171,029 median income · $845,038 median home price
Located in
Bergen County, New Jersey
Park Ridge is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. Park Ridge had a population of 8,645 as of the 2010 United States Census, reflecting a decline of 63 from the 8,708 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 606 from the 8,102 counted in the 1990 Census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$232,629 median income · $1,269,853 median home price
Located in
Union County, New Jersey
Westfield is a town in Union County of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town’s population was 30,316, reflecting an increase of 672 from the 29,644 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 774 from the 28,870 counted in the 1990 Census. According to a 2014 nationwide survey, Westfield is considered to be the 30th-safest city to live in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$250,001 median income · $1,483,127 median home price
Located in
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Fair Haven is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, along the Navesink River and is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Fair Haven is located on the Rumson peninsula and is bordered by Red Bank and Little Silver to the west. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough’s population was 6,121, reflecting an increase of 184 from the 5,937 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 667 from the 5,270 counted in the 1990 Census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$195,529 median income · $791,728 median home price
Located in
Union County, New Jersey
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$221,322 median income · $975,412 median home price
Located in
Bergen County, New Jersey
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$240,853 median income · $1,110,500 median home price
Located in
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Little Silver is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough’s population was 5,950, a drop of 220 from the 6,170 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 449 from the 5,721 counted in the 1990 Census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$178,311 median income · $898,894 median home price
Located in
Bergen County, New Jersey
Norwood is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough’s population was 5,711, reflecting a decline of 40 from the 5,751 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 893 from the 4,858 counted in the 1990 Census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$241,500 median income · $1,310,369 median home price
Located in
Morris County, New Jersey
The Chathams is a term used in reference to shared services for two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey, United States – Chatham Borough and Chatham Township. The two are separate municipalities. The first, a town that was settled in 1710 as a colonial English village in the Province of New Jersey, that in 1773 adopted a name change to “Chatham”. There are numerous references to this village as “Chatham, New Jersey” dating from that time. The second, more southern, without a town center, and less densely populated, is the vestige of a regional government that was formed in 1806 as a township, a form of municipal government peculiar to the state of New Jersey. It had jurisdiction over a region including a large area of open space and several villages. One of those, the village of Chatham, dating from 1710, was the source for its name, Chatham Township.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is New Jersey’s statewide median.
New Jersey statewide median: $103,556
New Jersey statewide median: $569,411
On the map
Where New Jersey’s best suburbs are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we crunched the suburb numbers for the Garden State
We have to use Saturday Night Science and look at several metrics to give you the best suburbs in New Jersey. We want to measure the type of place around major cities that people arguing at a bar would say makes it the “best suburb.”
First, we had to define a suburb. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of New Jersey, we looked at every town with at least 5,000 residents, and within 30 miles of a city that’s over 200,000 people.
In other words, suburbs.
We paid particular attention to the following criteria:
- Median Home Values
- Median Income
- Population Density (Higher is Better)
- Unemployment Rates
- Commute Time
- Education Levels
- Health Insurance Coverage
- Poverty Rates
We ranked each suburb in New Jersey across these criteria from one to 157, with one being the best.
We then took the average rank across all criteria, with the town posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title “Best Suburb To Live In New Jersey.”
The result is some of the safest, quietest, and ideal places to live in New Jersey.
Read on to see why Hillsdale is the ‘burb with the most, while Camden is probably not the best place to live in New Jersey.
The full plate
The Best Suburbs In New Jersey
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Median Income | Median Home Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hillsdale | 10,144 | $186,688 | $843,788 |
| 2 | Waldwick | 10,164 | $177,962 | $738,299 |
| 3 | Park Ridge | 9,406 | $171,029 | $845,038 |
| 4 | Westfield | 31,111 | $232,629 | $1,269,853 |
| 5 | Fair Haven | 6,170 | $250,001 | $1,483,127 |
| 6 | Fanwood | 7,799 | $195,529 | $791,728 |
| 7 | Oradell | 8,235 | $221,322 | $975,412 |
| 8 | Little Silver | 6,105 | $240,853 | $1,110,500 |
| 9 | Norwood | 5,724 | $178,311 | $898,894 |
| 9 | Chatham | 9,407 | $241,500 | $1,310,369 |
| 11 | Haddon Heights | 7,516 | $133,125 | $493,148 |
| 12 | Madison | 16,447 | $171,471 | $990,723 |
| 13 | Franklin Lakes | 11,084 | $235,795 | $1,557,852 |
| 14 | Haddonfield | 12,595 | $200,400 | $830,377 |
| 15 | Ridgewood | 26,308 | $208,211 | $1,200,489 |
| 16 | Bernardsville | 7,916 | $236,115 | $1,003,867 |
| 17 | New Providence | 13,727 | $161,599 | $990,084 |
| 18 | Emerson | 7,305 | $155,536 | $780,190 |
| 19 | Old Tappan | 6,008 | $205,385 | $1,224,145 |
| 20 | Glen Rock | 12,154 | $215,096 | $1,056,914 |
| 21 | Allendale | 6,865 | $160,162 | $1,073,640 |
| 22 | Glen Ridge | 7,943 | $250,001 | $1,125,697 |
| 23 | North Caldwell | 6,656 | $208,245 | $1,133,696 |
| 24 | Mountainside | 7,049 | $211,538 | $1,043,568 |
| 25 | Rumson | 7,241 | $250,001 | $2,183,827 |
| 26 | Florham Park | 13,564 | $158,696 | $1,025,256 |
| 27 | River Edge | 12,091 | $159,028 | $839,655 |
| 28 | Woodcliff Lake | 6,152 | $213,981 | $1,228,602 |
| 29 | Hawthorne | 19,628 | $110,237 | $629,474 |
| 29 | Dumont | 18,279 | $126,071 | $666,365 |
| 31 | Oakland | 12,768 | $162,019 | $750,020 |
| 32 | Roseland | 6,268 | $164,458 | $819,880 |
| 33 | Midland Park | 7,019 | $146,841 | $732,465 |
| 34 | Tenafly | 15,319 | $208,200 | $1,262,422 |
| 35 | New Milford | 16,995 | $114,889 | $727,507 |
| 36 | Westwood | 11,283 | $165,781 | $755,182 |
| 37 | Closter | 8,606 | $190,469 | $1,153,806 |
| 38 | Hasbrouck Heights | 12,115 | $123,734 | $709,659 |
| 39 | Wood-Ridge | 10,218 | $136,108 | $709,508 |
| 40 | Ringwood | 11,657 | $152,414 | $596,571 |
| 41 | Ramsey | 14,805 | $160,996 | $863,404 |
| 42 | Morris Plains | 6,315 | $154,923 | $727,186 |
| 43 | Kinnelon | 10,013 | $187,438 | $836,759 |
| 44 | Leonia | 9,336 | $129,665 | $808,460 |
| 45 | Mount Arlington | 5,935 | $92,264 | $529,938 |
| 46 | Matawan | 9,710 | $123,354 | $645,512 |
| 47 | Fair Lawn | 35,610 | $144,574 | $709,175 |
| 48 | Metuchen | 15,144 | $158,052 | $683,090 |
| 49 | Hoboken | 58,668 | $180,579 | $855,399 |
| 50 | Audubon | 8,730 | $115,789 | $376,496 |
| 50 | Pitman | 8,856 | $98,489 | $358,956 |
| 52 | North Haledon | 8,778 | $125,313 | $712,134 |
| 53 | Cresskill | 9,174 | $170,376 | $1,000,899 |
| 54 | Rutherford | 18,894 | $143,153 | $738,683 |
| 55 | Butler | 8,133 | $111,557 | $549,895 |
| 56 | Jamesburg | 5,770 | $110,972 | $465,247 |
| 57 | Watchung | 6,485 | $173,672 | $1,060,985 |
| 58 | Caldwell | 9,003 | $96,824 | $724,635 |
| 59 | Boonton | 8,854 | $114,302 | $667,780 |
| 60 | Rockaway | 6,613 | $107,053 | $561,517 |
| 61 | Summit | 22,705 | $190,304 | $1,372,011 |
| 62 | Oceanport | 6,195 | $126,094 | $910,435 |
| 63 | Montvale | 8,901 | $178,269 | $920,951 |
| 64 | Roselle Park | 14,093 | $109,679 | $538,084 |
| 65 | Englewood Cliffs | 5,362 | $230,611 | $1,733,277 |
| 66 | Wanaque | 11,206 | $113,175 | $507,937 |
| 67 | Somerville | 13,410 | $103,760 | $542,519 |
| 68 | Totowa | 10,959 | $113,563 | $659,952 |
| 69 | Raritan | 8,368 | $107,672 | $545,696 |
| 70 | West Long Branch | 8,586 | $114,271 | $959,620 |
| 71 | Upper Saddle River | 8,439 | $250,001 | $1,412,975 |
| 72 | Bergenfield | 28,450 | $130,045 | $629,539 |
| 73 | Tinton Falls | 19,361 | $117,308 | $624,719 |
| 73 | Kenilworth | 8,401 | $118,611 | $625,220 |
| 75 | Palisades Park | 20,290 | $94,743 | $987,743 |
| 76 | Woodland Park | 13,355 | $98,845 | $648,176 |
| 77 | Union Beach | 5,707 | $119,250 | $527,337 |
| 78 | Edgewater | 14,759 | $124,050 | $714,157 |
| 79 | South Plainfield | 24,473 | $130,239 | $583,003 |
| 80 | Paramus | 26,568 | $144,349 | $1,039,757 |
| 81 | Maywood | 10,093 | $117,912 | $681,177 |
| 82 | Ridgefield | 11,498 | $118,059 | $778,380 |
| 83 | Highland Park | 15,121 | $104,694 | $585,369 |
| 84 | Berlin | 7,539 | $102,855 | $389,297 |
| 85 | Hopatcong | 14,565 | $115,758 | $447,232 |
| 86 | Barrington | 7,076 | $87,290 | $364,664 |
| 87 | Lincoln Park | 10,957 | $123,397 | $534,178 |
| 88 | Pompton Lakes | 11,047 | $124,454 | $548,025 |
| 89 | Fort Lee | 40,067 | $107,274 | $588,321 |
| 90 | Carlstadt | 6,378 | $115,444 | $656,613 |
| 91 | Bogota | 9,360 | $103,299 | $605,189 |
| 92 | Bloomingdale | 7,716 | $127,500 | $547,974 |
| 93 | Manville | 10,921 | $93,333 | $476,361 |
| 94 | Cliffside Park | 25,781 | $93,452 | $645,671 |
| 95 | North Arlington | 16,461 | $94,201 | $619,152 |
| 96 | Collingswood | 14,205 | $90,184 | $448,586 |
| 97 | Secaucus | 21,778 | $139,821 | $662,670 |
| 98 | Asbury Park | 15,295 | $75,544 | $686,057 |
| 99 | Red Bank | 12,862 | $97,477 | $693,365 |
| 100 | Stratford | 7,018 | $98,427 | $339,991 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS via Saturday Night Science. 157 New Jersey suburbs within 30 miles of a city over 200,000.
Summary
Summary: There You Have It – The Best Suburbs In New Jersey
If you’re measuring the locations in New Jersey where there are lots to do, and everyone wants to live, this is an accurate list.
The best suburbs in New Jersey are Hillsdale, Waldwick, Park Ridge, Westfield, Fair Haven, Fanwood, Oradell, Little Silver, Norwood, and Chatham. Not sold on New Jersey? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Best Suburbs In New Jersey FAQs
What is the best suburb in New Jersey?
Hillsdale is the best suburb to live in New Jersey for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. It pairs a $186,688 median household income with a $843,788 median home value.
What are the best suburbs in New Jersey?
The best suburbs in New Jersey are Hillsdale, Waldwick, Park Ridge, Westfield, Fair Haven, Fanwood, Oradell, Little Silver, Norwood, and Chatham. We ranked all 157 qualifying New Jersey suburbs.
What counts as a suburb?
For this ranking, a suburb is a town within 30 miles of a city with more than 200,000 people. 157 New Jersey places fit that definition this year.
How do you rank the best suburbs?
Suburbs are scored on home values, income, density, unemployment, commute times, education, insurance coverage, and poverty, using Census American Community Survey data. The best average across all eight wins.
Which New Jersey suburb ranked last?
Camden came in last of the 157 New Jersey suburbs we scored. Somebody has to, and the full ordering is in the table above.
