Best PlacesBergen County, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bergen County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bergen County ranks 177th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $140,641, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are state finances, property taxes, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Bergen County
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.
The best areas in Bergen County
The parts of Bergen County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Closter, Old Tappan & Norwood
Tree cover is thicker, local pay stretches further, and it is quieter.
Mahwah, Ridgewood & Wyckoff
More adults hold degrees, though streets are more car-dependent.
Paramus, Hillsdale & Westwood
Incomes run higher and more residents vote.
Bergenfield, Englewood & Teaneck
More households have young kids.
Fair Lawn, Elmwood Park & Saddle Brook
Scores close to Bergenfield, Englewood & Teaneck, except that commutes are shorter here.
Hackensack, River Edge & Maywood
Fort Lee, Cliffside Park & Palisades Park
Crime runs higher and advertised internet is slower.
Garfield, Lyndhurst & Rutherford
Schools score lower and disaster risk is higher.
Lodi, Hasbrouck Heights & Ridgefield Park
Homes cost less, though health care is harder to reach.
Bergen County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Bergen County's strengths and weaknesses
Bergen County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Transit and high incomes follow.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Bergen County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- Household income$140,641 median, better than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of counties
Where Bergen County ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,508 a month, better than only 2% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 7% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bergen County
A household needs to earn about $198,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bergen County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $140,641, 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 Bergen County's effective rate of 1.96%, 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 Bergen County
Bergen County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bergen County.
Who works in Bergen County, and how
Work in Bergen County centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Bergen County
Bergen County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of counties. The coast is about 25 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Bergen County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bergen County growing, and who is moving in?
Bergen County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the New York, NY metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bergen County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bergen County, month by month
Bergen County sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Bergen County
Laguardia sits about 14 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 118 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Bergen County
Schools across Bergen County average a C+, better than 52% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- River School (the)A+ · 90% proficient
- Pearls Hawthorne SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Ps 133 William A ButlerA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Upper SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Demarest Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Cresskill Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Hastings High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- High School Mathematics Science And Engineering At CcnyA+ · 98% proficient
- Bergen County AcademiesA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bergen County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bergen County 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 Bergen County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Bergen County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 19% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bergen County
Is Bergen County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bergen County ranks 177th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and high incomes, 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 Bergen County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $654,023. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $140,641 median income, cost of living beats 96% of counties.
Is Bergen County safe?
Bergen County is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $238 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bergen County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 26. That works out to about 59 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bergen County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Closter, Old Tappan & Norwood, Mahwah, Ridgewood & Wyckoff, and Paramus, Hillsdale & Westwood. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Bergen County good for families?
Schools beat 52% of counties, crime safety beats 52%, and childcare runs $1,508 a month.
Is Bergen County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 96% of counties. About 19% of workers already work from home.
Compare Bergen County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bergen County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bergen County 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.
Bergen County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bergen County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bergen County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bergen County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bergen County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bergen County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.