Best PlacesBerkeley Heights, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berkeley Heights, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Berkeley Heights ranks 912th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Berkeley Heights
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.
Berkeley Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Berkeley Heights ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$192,553 median, better than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
Where Berkeley Heights ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,434 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Short commute37.5 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Berkeley Heights
A household needs to earn about $232,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berkeley Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $192,553, 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 Berkeley Heights' effective rate of 1.84%, 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 Berkeley Heights
Berkeley Heights runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Berkeley Heights.
Who works in Berkeley Heights, and how
Work in Berkeley Heights centers on finance & insurance and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 57%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Berkeley Heights
Berkeley Heights has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns and more parkland per resident than 84% of towns. The coast is about 26 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Berkeley Heights and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Berkeley Heights, month by month
Berkeley Heights sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Berkeley Heights
Newark Liberty International sits about 14 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 Berkeley Heights
Schools across Berkeley Heights average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lafayette Avenue SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Allen W. Roberts SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Southern Boulevard SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Providence Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Warren Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Columbia Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Chatham High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- New Providence High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Watchung Hills Regional High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berkeley Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berkeley Heights 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 Berkeley Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Berkeley Heights
Is Berkeley Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berkeley Heights ranks 912th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, big-city access, 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 Berkeley Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $776,783. The overall cost of living runs about 21% above the national average. Set against a $192,553 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Berkeley Heights safe?
Yes, Berkeley Heights is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $149 per resident a year.
Compare Berkeley Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berkeley Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berkeley Heights 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.
Berkeley Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berkeley Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berkeley Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berkeley Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berkeley Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berkeley Heights 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.