Best PlacesHudson County, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Hudson County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hudson County ranks 444th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Its strengths are walkability and cell coverage. The cost shows up in state finances, civic engagement, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Hudson County
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.
The best areas in Hudson County
The parts of Hudson County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Hoboken
Incomes run higher, more adults hold degrees, and local pay stretches further.
Jersey City
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Secaucus
Streets are more car-dependent and disaster risk is higher.
Bayonne
More households have young kids, though prices have run up more.
North Bergen, West New York & Union City
Schools score lower and health care is harder to reach.
Kearny
Homes cost less, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Harrison
Fewer residents vote and advertised internet is slower.
Hudson County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Hudson County's strengths and weaknesses
Hudson County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Walkability is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Cell coverage and big-city access follow.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Hudson County ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
Where Hudson County ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,520 a month, better than only 2% of counties
- Short commute35.4 minutes each way, better than only 3% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Hudson County
A household needs to earn about $172,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hudson County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $103,124, 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 Hudson County's effective rate of 1.66%, 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 Hudson County
Hudson County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hudson County.
Who works in Hudson County, and how
Work in Hudson County 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 41%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 40%
Life in Hudson County
Hudson County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hudson County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Hudson County growing, and who is moving in?
Hudson County has grown about 12% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the New York, NY metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Hudson County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Hudson County, month by month
Hudson County sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 35° | 28° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 69° | 60° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Hudson County
Newark Liberty International sits about 7 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 Hudson County
Schools across Hudson County average a C−, better than 30% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
- Cornelia F. Bradford SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Joseph F Brandt Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Academy IA− · 55% proficient
- Explore Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Middle School # 4C · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- New Dorp High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Dr Ronald Mcnair High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Infinity InstituteA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hudson County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hudson County 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 Hudson County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Hudson County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Hudson County
Is Hudson County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hudson County ranks 444th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on state finances and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hudson County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $587,903. The overall cost of living runs about 31% above the national average. Set against a $103,124 median income, cost of living beats 50% of counties.
Is Hudson County safe?
Hudson County is safer than 27% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hudson County?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 28. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 19% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hudson County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hoboken, Jersey City, and Secaucus. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Hudson County good for families?
Schools beat 30% of counties, crime safety beats 27%, and childcare runs $1,520 a month.
Is Hudson County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 50% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 92% of counties. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hudson County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hudson County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hudson County 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.
Hudson County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hudson County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hudson County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hudson County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hudson County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hudson County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.