Best PlacesHarrison, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harrison, 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.
Harrison ranks 23,573rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Harrison
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.
Harrison's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harrison ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
Where Harrison ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,520 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harrison
A household needs to earn about $159,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harrison home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $92,771, 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 Harrison's effective rate of 1.94%, 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 Harrison
Harrison runs younger 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 Harrison.
Who works in Harrison, and how
Work in Harrison centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 45%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 36%
Life in Harrison
Harrison has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns. The coast is about 20 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Harrison and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Harrison, month by month
Harrison 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 Harrison
Newark Liberty International sits about 4 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 Harrison
Schools across Harrison average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hamilton Intermediate SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Lincoln Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
- East Newark Elementary SchoolD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- Washington Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Technology High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Harrison High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harrison school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harrison 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 Harrison against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harrison
Is Harrison a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harrison ranks 23,573rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, big-city access, 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 Harrison expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $525,791. The overall cost of living runs about 34% above the national average. Set against a $92,771 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Harrison safe?
Harrison is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $301 per resident a year.
Compare Harrison with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harrison. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harrison 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.
Harrison detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harrison: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harrison: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harrison: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harrison: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harrison 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.