Best Places08318, NJ Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 08318, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

08318 ranks 11,724th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.

#11,724
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
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The best neighborhoods in 08318

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 08318 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
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BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

08318's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Big-city access
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 08318 with other zip codes.

Where 08318 ranks high

  • Big-city accessBetter than 92% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 87% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than 82% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 80% of zip codes
  • Household income$96,913 median, better than 78% of zip codes

Where 08318 ranks low

  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,338 a month, better than only 12% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 08318

A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 08318 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,913, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$89,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,069
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $288,015 home
Median rent
$1,639
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,469
Property tax$505
Homeowners insurance$96

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 08318's effective rate of 2.10%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 08318

08318 runs older than the country.

Median age
47
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
21%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1817%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6421%
65 and older21%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 08318.


Who works in 08318, and how

Work in 08318 centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
7%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.5%
about the national average
Job growth
−1.6%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social16%
Education15%
Manufacturing13%
Retail trade10%
Construction9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 91%
  • Work from home 7%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 08318

08318 has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most zip codes and more parkland per resident than 78% of zip codes. The coast is about 52 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 08318 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
26
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 21.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 33% of zip codes
Parkland
68 acres
about 5.7 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 78% of zip codes
To the coast
52 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 08318, month by month

08318 sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January46°35°24°
April68°54°41°
July89°77°67°
October72°59°47°

Flying in and out of 08318

Philadelphia International sits about 22 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 14.8 million passengers in 2025, with 179 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
PHL
Philadelphia International, about 22 miles
Airport size
Large hub
21st-busiest in the US, 179 nonstop destinations
Average drive
32 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 08318

Schools across 08318 average a C−, better than 26% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 08318 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


08318 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 08318 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 08318

Is 08318 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 08318 ranks 11,724th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on big-city access, low crime, and quiet, and lowest on state finances and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 08318 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $288,015. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $96,913 median income, cost of living beats 74% of zip codes.

Is 08318 safe?

Yes, 08318 is safer than 87% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $141 per resident a year.


Compare 08318 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 08318. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 08318 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

08318 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 08318: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 08318: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 08318: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 08318: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

08318 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.