Best PlacesBlackwood, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blackwood, 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.
Blackwood ranks 1,261st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Property taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Blackwood
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.
Blackwood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blackwood ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 75% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 73% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 71% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 70% of cities
Where Blackwood ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Blackwood
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blackwood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,586, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Blackwood's effective rate of 2.72%, 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.
Who lives in Blackwood
Blackwood'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 Blackwood.
Who works in Blackwood, and how
Work in Blackwood centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Blackwood
Blackwood has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of cities and more parkland per resident than 89% of cities. The coast is about 45 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Blackwood and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Blackwood, month by month
Blackwood sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Blackwood
Philadelphia International sits about 11 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 14.8 million passengers in 2025, with 179 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Blackwood
Schools across Blackwood average a D+, better than 12% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Whitman Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Birches Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Parkview Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chestnut Ridge Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Bunker Hill Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Orchard Valley Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Washington Township High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Deptford Township High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Timber Creek Regional High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blackwood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blackwood 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 Blackwood against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Blackwood suits
Families
Schools land around the 12th percentile and crime safety beats 71%.
Common questions about living in Blackwood
Is Blackwood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blackwood ranks 1,261st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, tree cover, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blackwood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $283,780. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $98,586 median income, cost of living beats 60% of cities.
Is Blackwood safe?
Yes, Blackwood is safer than 71% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $180 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Blackwood?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 27. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of cities.
Is Blackwood good for families?
Schools beat 12% of cities, crime safety beats 71%, and childcare runs $1,380 a month.
Compare Blackwood with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blackwood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blackwood 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.
Blackwood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blackwood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blackwood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blackwood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blackwood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blackwood 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.