Best PlacesFairfield, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fairfield, 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.
Fairfield ranks 5,375th 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 Fairfield
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.
Fairfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fairfield ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$139,619 median, better than 96% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 96% of towns
Where Fairfield ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,400 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fairfield
A household needs to earn about $204,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $139,619, 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 Fairfield's effective rate of 1.67%, 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 Fairfield
Fairfield runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fairfield.
Who works in Fairfield, and how
Work in Fairfield centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Fairfield
Fairfield has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 35 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fairfield and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fairfield, month by month
Fairfield sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Fairfield
Newark Liberty International sits about 15 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 Fairfield
Schools across Fairfield average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hartshorn SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Milton Avenue SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Woodmont SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Millburn Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Chatham Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Robert R Lazar Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Millburn High SchoolA · 74% proficient
- West Essex High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Madison High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairfield 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 Fairfield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fairfield
Is Fairfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairfield ranks 5,375th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, population health, and transit, and lowest on state finances and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fairfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $698,152. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $139,619 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Fairfield safe?
Fairfield is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $313 per resident a year.
Compare Fairfield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairfield 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.
Fairfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairfield 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.