Best PlacesHo-Ho-Kus, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ho-Ho-Kus, 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.
Ho-Ho-Kus ranks 543rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ho-Ho-Kus
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.
Ho-Ho-Kus' strengths and weaknesses
Where Ho-Ho-Kus ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$235,528 median, better than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
Where Ho-Ho-Kus ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,508 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ho-Ho-Kus
A household needs to earn about $332,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ho-Ho-Kus home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $235,528, 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 Ho-Ho-Kus' effective rate of 1.51%, 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 Ho-Ho-Kus
Ho-Ho-Kus runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Ho-Ho-Kus.
Who works in Ho-Ho-Kus, and how
Work in Ho-Ho-Kus centers on finance & insurance and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 51%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Ho-Ho-Kus
Ho-Ho-Kus has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns. The coast is about 30 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Ho-Ho-Kus and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ho-Ho-Kus, month by month
Ho-Ho-Kus sees roughly 57 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 Ho-Ho-Kus
Laguardia sits about 20 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 Ho-Ho-Kus
Schools across Ho-Ho-Kus average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ho-ho-kus Public SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Willard Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Crescent Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- George Washington Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Waldwick Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Ridgewood High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Westwood Regional High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Midland Park Jr./sr. High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ho-Ho-Kus school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ho-Ho-Kus 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 Ho-Ho-Kus against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ho-Ho-Kus
Is Ho-Ho-Kus a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ho-Ho-Kus ranks 543rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, what local pay buys, and big-city access, 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 Ho-Ho-Kus expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,159,447. The overall cost of living runs about 27% above the national average. Set against a $235,528 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Ho-Ho-Kus safe?
Yes, Ho-Ho-Kus is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
Compare Ho-Ho-Kus with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ho-Ho-Kus. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ho-Ho-Kus 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.
Ho-Ho-Kus detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ho-Ho-Kus: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ho-Ho-Kus: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ho-Ho-Kus: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ho-Ho-Kus: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ho-Ho-Kus 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.