Best PlacesHackensack, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hackensack, 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.
Hackensack ranks 1,381st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hackensack
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.
Hackensack's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hackensack ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of cities
- TransitBetter than 98% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of cities
Where Hackensack ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 4% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Hackensack
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hackensack home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $90,693, 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 Hackensack's effective rate of 2.27%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hackensack
Hackensack runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hackensack.
Who works in Hackensack, and how
Work in Hackensack centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 21%
Life in Hackensack
Hackensack has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hackensack and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hackensack, month by month
Hackensack sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Hackensack
Laguardia sits about 12 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 118 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hackensack
Schools across Hackensack average a D, better than 7% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Nellie K. ParkerD+ · 23% proficient
- Fanny Meyer HillersD · 20% proficient
- FairmountD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Benjamin Franklin Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Hackensack Middle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Bergen County AcademiesA+ · 94% proficient
- Teaneck High SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Hackensack High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hackensack school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hackensack 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 Hackensack against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Hackensack suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Hackensack
Is Hackensack a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hackensack ranks 1,381st of 2,098 cities. 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 Hackensack expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $372,456. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $90,693 median income, cost of living beats 27% of cities.
Is Hackensack safe?
Hackensack is safer than 20% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $296 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hackensack?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 26. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of cities.
Is Hackensack good for families?
Schools beat 7% of cities, crime safety beats 20%, and childcare runs $1,508 a month.
Compare Hackensack with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hackensack. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hackensack 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.
Hackensack detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hackensack: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hackensack: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hackensack: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hackensack: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hackensack 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.