More and more people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Yonkers to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: what suburbs of Yonkers are the worst?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Yonkers ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Yonkers area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Yonkers proper, although Ho-Ho-Kus certainly tries.
We examined the 190 biggest suburbs of Yonkers to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in New York lists, these places are a little too far downwind of Yonkers in terms of quality of life.
$52,060 median income · $478,455 median home price
Located in
New York
We’ll get the ball rolling with Newark, the absolute worst place to live around Yonkers according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Newark beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 5th worst in the Yonkers area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 13th worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Newark.
You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$72,902 median income · $404,917 median home price
Welcome to Greenwood Lake. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 29.0 miles to Yonkers. Income levels here are the 14th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $72,902 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$75,167 median income · $444,473 median home price
Located in
Rockland County, New York
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Yonkers suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Haverstraw on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Yonkers suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$55,371 median income · $552,682 median home price
If you live in Passaic, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 7th lowest Yonkers suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 2nd worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Yonkers. Remember, we looked at 190 cities for this study.
Passaic is about 14.9 miles to downtown.
$55,997 median income · $528,882 median home price
Paterson has the distinction of being a Yonkers suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Paterson has the 19th lowest home values in the metro Yonkers area, where the median price is $528,882. The median income is $250,001.
Paterson has an unemployment rate of 10.7% which ranks 6th worst.
$92,915 median income · $545,869 median home price
Linden has 44,192 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 9.6%.
$66,555 median income · $534,667 median home price
Ah, Elizabeth. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Yonkers.
It’s the place with the 29th most out of work residents in the Yonkers metro area (7.7%).
$71,729 median income · $463,006 median home price
West New York is a city about 13.3 miles from Yonkers, but Yonkers probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. West New York has the 5th most uninsured people, 13th worst incomes, and has the 17th highest unemployment rate (8.4%) in the entire Yonkers metro area.
Homes only cost $463,006 for a reason. That’s cheap for Yonkers standards.
$48,646 median income · $589,335 median home price
If you absolutely have to live near Yonkers, then East Newark might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Yonkers suburb.
About 9.3% of residents are out of work.
$53,125 median income · $535,126 median home price
Rounding out the ten worst Yonkers suburbs to call home is Prospect Park.
Located 16.0 miles outside the city, Prospect Park is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 5th highest unemployment rate (11.5%), and poverty is far above the area average.
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is New York’s statewide median.
New York statewide median: $85,974
New York statewide median: $507,794
New York statewide median: 6.4%
New York statewide median: 14.0%
On the map
Where the worst Yonkers suburbs are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Yonkers for 2026
To figure out how bad a Yonkers suburb is to live in, we used Saturday Night Science to identify the kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2020-2024, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school dropouts
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of Yonkers.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 190 suburbs to evaluate around Yonkers.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 190 in each category, where 1 was the worst.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index, the “Worst Suburb near Yonkers.” We’re looking at you, Newark.
We updated this article for 2026, which reflects our eleventh time ranking the worst suburbs around Yonkers.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Worst Yonkers Suburbs
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Worst Score | Population | Median Income | Median Home Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newark | 30.14 | 310,178 | $52,060 | $478,455 |
| 2 | Greenwood Lake | 31.14 | 3,020 | $72,902 | $404,917 |
| 3 | Haverstraw | 33.21 | 12,325 | $75,167 | $444,473 |
| 4 | Passaic | 33.29 | 70,002 | $55,371 | $552,682 |
| 5 | Paterson | 33.36 | 158,735 | $55,997 | $528,882 |
| 6 | Linden | 34.21 | 44,192 | $92,915 | $545,869 |
| 7 | Elizabeth | 34.29 | 137,302 | $66,555 | $534,667 |
| 8 | West New York | 36.29 | 52,004 | $71,729 | $463,006 |
| 9 | East Newark | 37.14 | 2,497 | $48,646 | $589,335 |
| 10 | Prospect Park | 38.43 | 6,319 | $53,125 | $535,126 |
| 11 | Kearny | 38.93 | 40,614 | $79,154 | $584,040 |
| 12 | Fairview | 39.36 | 15,099 | $63,606 | $654,535 |
| 13 | East Orange | 39.71 | 70,090 | $60,830 | $474,293 |
| 14 | Harriman | 40.71 | 2,586 | $83,488 | $373,322 |
| 15 | Peekskill | 41.64 | 25,625 | $85,954 | $500,840 |
| 16 | Greenville | 43.50 | 12,741 | $47,237 | $195,222 |
| 17 | Roselle | 43.79 | 22,646 | $92,762 | $507,576 |
| 18 | Ridgefield Park | 45.93 | 13,235 | $100,718 | $580,536 |
| 19 | Hempstead | 46.14 | 58,801 | $90,420 | $627,531 |
| 20 | Mount Vernon | 46.93 | 72,427 | $78,779 | $568,431 |
| 21 | Hackensack | 47.07 | 46,057 | $84,277 | $465,836 |
| 22 | Guttenberg | 47.93 | 11,754 | $75,683 | $416,701 |
| 23 | Garfield | 49.07 | 32,783 | $79,700 | $580,601 |
| 24 | Lodi | 50.71 | 26,082 | $89,305 | $619,465 |
| 25 | Moonachie | 50.93 | 3,126 | $90,260 | $656,577 |
| 26 | Ossining | 53.07 | 26,950 | $103,573 | $538,109 |
| 27 | Little Ferry | 56.00 | 10,996 | $85,750 | $585,493 |
| 28 | Elmwood Park | 56.57 | 21,412 | $101,740 | $616,473 |
| 29 | West Haverstraw | 56.93 | 10,711 | $86,301 | $425,897 |
| 30 | Haledon | 57.50 | 8,980 | $95,870 | $554,772 |
| 31 | Englewood | 59.00 | 29,638 | $102,571 | $617,542 |
| 32 | Wallington | 60.00 | 11,889 | $85,862 | $673,350 |
| 33 | New York | 60.07 | 8,483,844 | $80,483 | $812,861 |
| 34 | Port Chester | 60.36 | 31,102 | $92,222 | $725,361 |
| 35 | Union | 60.57 | 7,037 | $73,353 | $208,332 |
| 36 | Lincoln Park | 60.57 | 10,957 | $123,397 | $534,178 |
| 37 | Bloomingdale | 60.86 | 7,716 | $127,500 | $547,974 |
| 38 | Airmont | 61.07 | 10,205 | $94,972 | $963,994 |
| 39 | East Rutherford | 61.21 | 10,313 | $97,993 | $635,546 |
| 40 | Bayonne | 61.29 | 71,553 | $83,887 | $582,878 |
| 41 | Norwalk | 62.29 | 92,187 | $107,616 | $653,113 |
| 42 | Carlstadt | 62.50 | 6,378 | $115,444 | $656,613 |
| 43 | Harrison | 63.00 | 20,369 | $93,013 | $580,130 |
| 44 | Clifton | 63.43 | 89,379 | $98,237 | $612,462 |
| 45 | Stamford | 63.86 | 137,144 | $111,586 | $704,417 |
| 46 | Glen Cove | 63.86 | 28,112 | $92,064 | $810,612 |
| 47 | Sloatsburg | 64.50 | 3,038 | $108,043 | $539,236 |
| 48 | Kenilworth | 65.07 | 8,401 | $118,611 | $625,220 |
| 49 | New Square | 65.79 | 9,803 | $31,443 | $793,683 |
| 50 | Mount Kisco | 66.14 | 10,737 | $96,534 | $688,450 |
| 51 | Spring Valley | 66.57 | 33,192 | $57,196 | $871,487 |
| 52 | Bogota | 68.00 | 9,360 | $103,299 | $605,189 |
| 53 | Highland Falls | 70.64 | 3,683 | $110,714 | $415,969 |
| 54 | North Arlington | 71.00 | 16,461 | $94,201 | $619,152 |
| 55 | Freeport | 71.36 | 44,088 | $120,625 | $652,866 |
| 56 | New Hempstead | 71.36 | 5,472 | $126,165 | $978,445 |
| 57 | White Plains | 72.00 | 60,666 | $110,763 | $770,309 |
| 58 | Chestnut Ridge | 72.07 | 10,557 | $111,725 | $862,819 |
| 59 | Boonton | 72.14 | 8,854 | $114,302 | $667,780 |
| 60 | Elmsford | 72.50 | 5,186 | $120,179 | $678,626 |
| 61 | Woodland Park | 73.14 | 13,355 | $98,845 | $648,176 |
| 62 | Cliffside Park | 73.71 | 25,781 | $93,452 | $645,671 |
| 63 | Sleepy Hollow | 73.71 | 10,887 | $104,313 | $1,010,737 |
| 64 | Wanaque | 76.07 | 11,206 | $113,175 | $507,937 |
| 65 | New Rochelle | 76.93 | 82,769 | $109,167 | $917,531 |
| 66 | Palisades Park | 77.07 | 20,290 | $94,743 | $987,743 |
| 67 | Suffern | 77.14 | 11,441 | $104,607 | $576,040 |
| 68 | Roselle Park | 77.43 | 14,093 | $109,679 | $538,084 |
| 69 | Ridgefield | 78.36 | 11,498 | $118,059 | $778,380 |
| 70 | Fort Lee | 78.43 | 40,067 | $107,274 | $588,321 |
| 71 | Kaser | 78.57 | 5,694 | $26,848 | $1,050,815 |
| 72 | Bergenfield | 78.57 | 28,450 | $130,045 | $629,539 |
| 73 | Island Park | 80.00 | 4,976 | $104,926 | $743,254 |
| 74 | Secaucus | 81.86 | 21,778 | $139,821 | $662,670 |
| 75 | Mamaroneck | 82.93 | 19,826 | $120,000 | $859,344 |
| 76 | Caldwell | 84.07 | 9,003 | $96,824 | $724,635 |
| 77 | Maywood | 87.50 | 10,093 | $117,912 | $681,177 |
| 78 | Pompton Lakes | 87.57 | 11,047 | $124,454 | $548,025 |
| 79 | Butler | 87.86 | 8,133 | $111,557 | $549,895 |
| 80 | Northvale | 91.14 | 4,829 | $127,625 | $751,343 |
| 81 | Riverdale | 91.21 | 4,112 | $102,950 | $484,267 |
| 82 | Edgewater | 91.43 | 14,759 | $124,050 | $714,157 |
| 83 | Nyack | 92.00 | 7,393 | $116,649 | $748,480 |
| 84 | New Milford | 92.00 | 16,995 | $114,889 | $727,507 |
| 85 | Totowa | 92.00 | 10,959 | $113,563 | $659,952 |
| 86 | Leonia | 92.29 | 9,336 | $129,665 | $808,460 |
| 87 | Paramus | 93.57 | 26,568 | $144,349 | $1,039,757 |
| 88 | Hasbrouck Heights | 94.29 | 12,115 | $123,734 | $709,659 |
| 89 | North Haledon | 94.86 | 8,778 | $125,313 | $712,134 |
| 90 | Great Neck Plaza | 94.86 | 7,593 | $92,474 | $498,568 |
| 91 | Montebello | 96.29 | 4,673 | $133,750 | $1,081,804 |
| 92 | Pomona | 96.71 | 3,996 | $156,000 | $722,364 |
| 93 | Lynbrook | 98.86 | 20,325 | $136,696 | $745,362 |
| 94 | Fair Lawn | 99.57 | 35,610 | $144,574 | $709,175 |
| 95 | Hawthorne | 99.64 | 19,628 | $110,237 | $629,474 |
| 96 | Westwood | 99.71 | 11,283 | $165,781 | $755,182 |
| 97 | Harrison | 99.93 | 29,961 | $164,250 | $1,211,014 |
| 98 | Pleasantville | 100.64 | 7,371 | $136,406 | $987,582 |
| 99 | Cedarhurst | 101.57 | 7,320 | $101,572 | $1,206,385 |
| 100 | Croton-on-Hudson | 101.86 | 8,202 | $191,678 | $812,905 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 190 suburbs within 30 miles of Yonkers.
Summary
Summary: The areas around Yonkers where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2026
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Yonkers with Newark casting itself ahead of the pack.
The worst suburbs of Yonkers are Newark, Greenwood Lake, Haverstraw, Passaic, Paterson, Linden, Elizabeth, West New York, East Newark, and Prospect Park.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Yonkers aren’t all bad. Ho-Ho-Kus takes the cake as the best place to live around Yonkers. Not sold on New York? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Worst Suburbs Of Yonkers FAQs
What is the worst suburb of Yonkers?
Newark ranks as the worst suburb around Yonkers for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. Greenwood Lake and Haverstraw are next on the list.
What are the worst suburbs of Yonkers?
The worst-ranked suburbs around Yonkers are Newark, Greenwood Lake, Haverstraw, Passaic, Paterson, Linden, Elizabeth, West New York, East Newark, and Prospect Park. We scored all 190 places within 30 miles.
Why does Newark rank as the worst suburb?
Newark posts the roughest combined numbers of the 190 suburbs we scored: a median household income of $52,060, a median home value of $478,455, and a poverty rate of 23.4%.
What is the best-ranked suburb near Yonkers?
Ho-Ho-Kus lands at the opposite end of this ranking, making it the best-ranked suburb near Yonkers by these measures. Our separate best suburbs of Yonkers list covers that side properly.
How do you rank the worst suburbs?
Suburbs are scored on unemployment, income, density, home values, dropouts, poverty, and insurance coverage, using Census American Community Survey data. Real numbers, light heart — every one of these towns has people making it work.
