Best PlacesFranklin Lakes, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Franklin Lakes, 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.
Franklin Lakes ranks 634th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Franklin Lakes
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.
Franklin Lakes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Franklin Lakes ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$218,902 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
Where Franklin Lakes ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,507 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Short commute36.5 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Franklin Lakes
A household needs to earn about $343,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Franklin Lakes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $218,902, 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 Franklin Lakes' effective rate of 1.40%, 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 Franklin Lakes
Franklin Lakes 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 Franklin Lakes.
Who works in Franklin Lakes, and how
Work in Franklin Lakes centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 57%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Franklin Lakes
Franklin Lakes has more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. The coast is about 35 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Franklin Lakes and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Franklin Lakes, month by month
Franklin Lakes sees roughly 61 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 Franklin Lakes
Newark Liberty International sits about 22 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 Franklin Lakes
Schools across Franklin Lakes average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- George Washington SchoolB · 45% proficient
- George Washington Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Colonial Road SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Franklin Avenue Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Ramapo RidgeB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Northern Highlands Regional High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Indian Hills High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Mahwah High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Franklin Lakes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Franklin Lakes 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 Franklin Lakes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Franklin Lakes
Is Franklin Lakes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Franklin Lakes ranks 634th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, big-city access, and high incomes, 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 Franklin Lakes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,213,497. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $218,902 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Franklin Lakes safe?
Yes, Franklin Lakes is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $131 per resident a year.
Compare Franklin Lakes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Franklin Lakes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Franklin Lakes 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.
Franklin Lakes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Franklin Lakes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Franklin Lakes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Franklin Lakes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Franklin Lakes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Franklin Lakes 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.