Best PlacesClifton, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clifton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Clifton ranks 1,137th 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 Clifton
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 Clifton
The parts of Clifton, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Athenia
Richfield & Allwood
Albion Place
Delawanna
Lake View
Clifton shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 8% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Clifton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clifton ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of cities
- TransitBetter than 92% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of cities
Where Clifton ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 11% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Clifton
A household needs to earn about $146,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clifton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,787, 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 Clifton's effective rate of 2.12%, 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 Clifton
Clifton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clifton.
Who works in Clifton, and how
Work in Clifton centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Clifton
Clifton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 28 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Clifton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Clifton, month by month
Clifton sees roughly 58 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 Clifton
Newark Liberty International sits about 12 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 Clifton
Schools across Clifton average a D+, better than 12% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- School #2C+ · 37% proficient
- School #9C · 34% proficient
- School #13C− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Classical Academy Charter School Of CliftonC · 34% proficient
- Woodrow Wilson Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Christopher Columbus Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Clifton High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- International High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clifton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clifton 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 Clifton against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Clifton suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Clifton
Is Clifton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clifton ranks 1,137th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, fast internet, and walkability, and lowest on state finances and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clifton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $473,571. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $106,787 median income, cost of living beats 46% of cities.
Is Clifton safe?
Clifton is safer than 31% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $253 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Clifton?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 26. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Clifton?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Athenia, Richfield & Allwood, and Albion Place. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Clifton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clifton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clifton 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.
Clifton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clifton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clifton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clifton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clifton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clifton 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.