Best PlacesHopewell, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hopewell, 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.
Hopewell ranks 2,313th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hopewell
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.
Hopewell's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hopewell ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$162,081 median, better than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
Where Hopewell ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,399 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hopewell
A household needs to earn about $178,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hopewell home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $162,081; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Hopewell's effective rate of 2.19%, 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 Hopewell
Hopewell runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hopewell.
Who works in Hopewell, and how
Work in Hopewell centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Hopewell
Hopewell has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of towns and more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. The coast is about 46 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hopewell and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hopewell, month by month
Hopewell sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Hopewell
The nearest airport, Trenton Mercer, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 38 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hopewell
Schools across Hopewell average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- East Amwell TownshipB · 50% proficient
- Hopewell Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Bear Tavern Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Timberlane Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Hopewell Valley Central High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Hunterdon Central Regional High School DistrictB− · 45% proficient
- South Hunterdon Regional High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hopewell school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hopewell 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 Hopewell against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hopewell
Is Hopewell a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hopewell ranks 2,313th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, big-city access, and an educated workforce, 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 Hopewell expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $571,659. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $162,081 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Hopewell safe?
Yes, Hopewell is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $179 per resident a year.
Compare Hopewell with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hopewell. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hopewell 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.
Hopewell detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hopewell: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hopewell: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hopewell: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hopewell: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hopewell 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.