Best PlacesEast Orange, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Orange, 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.
East Orange ranks 1,996th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in East Orange
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.
East Orange's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Orange ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 98% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 83% of cities
Where East Orange ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 1% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in East Orange
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Orange home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,440, 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 East Orange's effective rate of 2.39%, 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 East Orange
East Orange'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 East Orange.
Who works in East Orange, and how
Work in East Orange centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 27%
Life in East Orange
East Orange has more parkland per resident than 75% of cities. The coast is about 22 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of East Orange and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Orange, month by month
East Orange sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of East Orange
Newark Liberty International sits about 5 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 East Orange
Schools across East Orange average a D−, better than 1% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Carteret Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- Heywood Avenue Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- Watsessing Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pride Academy Charter SchoolD · 20% proficient
- John L. Costley Middle SchoolF · 12% proficient
- Union Avenue Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- East Orange Stem Academy High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Bard Early College High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Cicely L. Tyson Community Middle/high SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Orange school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Orange 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 East Orange against the other 2,097 cities.
Who East Orange suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in East Orange
Is East Orange a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Orange ranks 1,996th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, transit, and walkability, and lowest on the schools and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Orange expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $367,859. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $68,440 median income, cost of living beats 8% of cities.
Is East Orange safe?
East Orange is safer than 7% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in East Orange?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 4% of cities.
Is East Orange good for families?
Schools beat 1% of cities, crime safety beats 7%, and childcare runs $1,400 a month.
Compare East Orange with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Orange. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Orange 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.
East Orange detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Orange: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Orange: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Orange: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Orange: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Orange 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.