Best PlacesCresskill, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cresskill, 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.
Cresskill ranks 617th 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 Cresskill
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.
Cresskill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cresskill ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$168,021 median, better than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
Where Cresskill ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,508 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- Short commute36.8 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cresskill
A household needs to earn about $244,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cresskill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $168,021, 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 Cresskill's effective rate of 1.92%, 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 Cresskill
Cresskill runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cresskill.
Who works in Cresskill, and how
Work in Cresskill 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 72%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Cresskill
Cresskill has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns. The coast is about 24 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Cresskill and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cresskill, month by month
Cresskill sees roughly 57 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 Cresskill
Laguardia sits about 12 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 Cresskill
Schools across Cresskill average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- River School (the)A+ · 90% proficient
- Edward H. BryanA− · 61% proficient
- Merritt MemorialA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cresskill Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Cresskill High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cresskill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cresskill 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 Cresskill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cresskill
Is Cresskill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cresskill ranks 617th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, population health, and transit, and lowest on state finances and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cresskill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $810,945. The overall cost of living runs about 23% above the national average. Set against a $168,021 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Cresskill safe?
Yes, Cresskill is safer than 59% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $188 per resident a year.
Compare Cresskill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cresskill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cresskill 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.
Cresskill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cresskill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cresskill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cresskill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cresskill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cresskill 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.