Best PlacesBayonne, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bayonne, 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.
Bayonne ranks 1,284th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bayonne
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.
Bayonne's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bayonne ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of cities
Where Bayonne ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of cities
- Short commute33.7 minutes each way, better than only 9% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 11% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bayonne
A household needs to earn about $148,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bayonne home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,078, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Bayonne's effective rate of 2.20%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bayonne
Bayonne's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bayonne.
Who works in Bayonne, and how
Work in Bayonne centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 57%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 29%
Life in Bayonne
Bayonne has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bayonne and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bayonne, month by month
Bayonne sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Bayonne
Newark Liberty International sits about 3 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.5 million passengers in 2025, with 242 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Bayonne
Schools across Bayonne average a D+, better than 11% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
- Nicholas Oresko Community SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Woodrow Wilson Community SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Knowledge And Power Preparatory Academy ViC− · 28% proficient
- Ezra L. Nolan SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Dr Ronald Mcnair High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Professional Pathways High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Bayonne High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bayonne school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bayonne 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 Bayonne against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Bayonne suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bayonne
Is Bayonne a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bayonne ranks 1,284th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, cell coverage, and walkability, 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 Bayonne expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $475,020. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $84,078 median income, cost of living beats 15% of cities.
Is Bayonne safe?
Bayonne is safer than 21% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bayonne?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 59 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of cities.
Is Bayonne good for families?
Schools beat 11% of cities, crime safety beats 21%, and childcare runs $1,520 a month.
Compare Bayonne with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bayonne. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bayonne 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.
Bayonne detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bayonne: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bayonne: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bayonne: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bayonne: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bayonne detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.