Best PlacesEssex County, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Essex County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Essex County ranks 745th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $104,181, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are state finances, property taxes, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Essex County
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 Essex County
The parts of Essex County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Caldwell, Verona & Fairfield
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Montclair, Cedar Grove & Upper Montclair
Tree cover is thicker and more residents vote.
West Orange, Livingston & South Orange
Health care is easier to reach, though streets are more car-dependent.
Maplewood, Short Hills & Millburn
Schools score higher and it is quieter.
Nutley, Belleville & Bloomfield
Prices have run up less and crime runs lower.
East Orange & Orange
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Newark
Biking is better and transit reaches more jobs.
Irvington
More homes sit empty.
Essex County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Essex County's strengths and weaknesses
Essex County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Walkability and transit follow.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Essex County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 97% of counties
Where Essex County ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,400 a month, better than only 4% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Essex County
A household needs to earn about $169,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Essex County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,181, 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 Essex County's effective rate of 2.14%, 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 Essex County
Essex County'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 Essex County.
Who works in Essex County, and how
Work in Essex County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 23%
Life in Essex County
The coast is about 23 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Essex County, which the map shows.
Is Essex County growing, and who is moving in?
Essex County has grown about 12% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the New York, NY metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Essex County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Essex County, month by month
Essex County sees roughly 59 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 Essex County
Newark Liberty International sits about 6 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 Essex County
Schools across Essex County average a C−, better than 18% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Glenwood SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Deerfield SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Wyoming SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Millburn Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Mount Pleasant Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Washington SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Millburn High SchoolA · 74% proficient
- Livingston High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Glen Ridge High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Essex County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Essex County 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 Essex County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Essex County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 17% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Essex County
Is Essex County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Essex County ranks 745th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, walkability, 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 Essex County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $547,421. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $104,181 median income, cost of living beats 78% of counties.
Is Essex County safe?
Essex County is safer than 22% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $307 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Essex County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 59 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Essex County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Caldwell, Verona & Fairfield, Montclair, Cedar Grove & Upper Montclair, and West Orange, Livingston & South Orange. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Essex County good for families?
Schools beat 18% of counties, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $1,400 a month.
Is Essex County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 94% of counties. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Essex County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Essex County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Essex County 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.
Essex County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Essex County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Essex County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Essex County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Essex County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Essex County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.