Best PlacesElizabeth, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elizabeth, 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.
Elizabeth ranks 359th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Its strengths are fast internet and walkability. The cost shows up in civic engagement, state finances, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Elizabeth
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.
Elizabeth's strengths and weaknesses
Elizabeth ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Fast internet is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. Walkability and big-city access follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: civic engagement, state finances, and an overheated housing market all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Elizabeth ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 91% of cities
Where Elizabeth ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Elizabeth
A household needs to earn about $140,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elizabeth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,062, 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 Elizabeth's effective rate of 2.19%, 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 Elizabeth
Elizabeth runs younger 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 Elizabeth.
Who works in Elizabeth, and how
Work in Elizabeth centers on transportation & warehousing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Elizabeth
Elizabeth has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Elizabeth and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Elizabeth, month by month
Elizabeth sees roughly 63 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 Elizabeth
Newark Liberty International sits about 3 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 Elizabeth
Schools across Elizabeth average a B−, better than 53% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Victor Mravlag School No. 21C− · 26% proficient
- Henry E. Harris Community SchoolD · 19% proficient
- Ola Edwards Community SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Terence C. Reilly School No 7B− · 43% proficient
- William F. Halloran School No.22B− · 40% proficient
- Howell Township Middle School SouthC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Elizabeth High School - Frank J Cicarell AcademyB · 47% proficient
- Bard Early College High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Bayonne High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elizabeth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth against the other 444 cities.
Who Elizabeth suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Elizabeth
Is Elizabeth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elizabeth ranks 359th of 445 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, walkability, and big-city access, and lowest on civic engagement and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elizabeth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $451,262. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $72,062 median income, cost of living beats 4% of cities.
Is Elizabeth safe?
Elizabeth is safer than 54% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Elizabeth?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 63 pleasant days a year, more than 10% of cities.
Is Elizabeth good for families?
Schools beat 53% of cities, crime safety beats 54%, and childcare runs $1,432 a month.
Is Elizabeth good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 4% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 98% of cities. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Elizabeth with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elizabeth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elizabeth 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.
Elizabeth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elizabeth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elizabeth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elizabeth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elizabeth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elizabeth 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.