Best PlacesBrookdale, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brookdale, 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.
Brookdale ranks 1,961st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Brookdale
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.
Brookdale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brookdale ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
Where Brookdale ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,400 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- Short commute35.2 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brookdale
A household needs to earn about $181,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brookdale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $155,787, 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 Brookdale's effective rate of 2.31%, 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 Brookdale
Brookdale'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 Brookdale.
Who works in Brookdale, and how
Work in Brookdale centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Brookdale
Brookdale has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 27 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brookdale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brookdale, month by month
Brookdale sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Brookdale
Newark Liberty International sits about 10 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 Brookdale
Schools across Brookdale average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ridgewood Avenue SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Spring Garden SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Charles H. Bullock SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buzz Aldrin Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- John H. Walker Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Bloomfield Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Glen Ridge High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Montclair High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Nutley High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brookdale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brookdale 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 Brookdale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brookdale
Is Brookdale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brookdale ranks 1,961st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, population health, and transit, 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 Brookdale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $575,151. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $155,787 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Brookdale safe?
Brookdale is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
Compare Brookdale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brookdale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brookdale 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.
Brookdale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brookdale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brookdale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brookdale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brookdale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brookdale 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.