Best PlacesJersey City, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Jersey City, 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.
Jersey City ranks 85th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and walkability. The cost shows up in state finances, long commutes, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Jersey City
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 Jersey City
The parts of Jersey City, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Downtown Jersey City & The Waterfront
Incomes run higher, more adults hold degrees, and local pay stretches further.
The Heights
Fewer households have young kids and schools score lower.
Liberty Park-Jersey City
Prices have run up more and it is noisier.
McGinley Square
Homes cost less.
West Side
Fewer homes sit empty, though health outcomes score lower.
Journal Square
Scores close to West Side, except that crime runs lower here.
Greenville
Streets are more car-dependent and heat risk is higher.
Jersey City shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 8% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Jersey City's strengths and weaknesses
Jersey City ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Walkability and cell coverage follow.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Long commutes and civic engagement also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Jersey City ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 98% of cities
- TransitBetter than 98% of cities
Where Jersey City ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of cities
- Short commute36.8 minutes each way, better than only 3% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,520 a month, better than only 12% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Jersey City
A household needs to earn about $178,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jersey City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,438, 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 Jersey City's effective rate of 1.44%, 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 Jersey City
Jersey City 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 Jersey City.
Who works in Jersey City, and how
Work in Jersey City 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 33%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 44%
Life in Jersey City
Jersey City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jersey City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Jersey City, month by month
Jersey City sees roughly 68 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 Jersey City
Newark Liberty International sits about 6 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 Jersey City
Schools across Jersey City average a C+, better than 63% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Cornelia F. Bradford SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Learning Community Charter SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Soaring Heights Charter SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Academy IA− · 55% proficient
- Explore Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Middle School # 4C · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Dr Ronald Mcnair High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Infinity InstituteA− · 64% proficient
- County Prep High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jersey City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jersey City 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 Jersey City against the other 444 cities.
Who Jersey City suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Jersey City
Is Jersey City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jersey City ranks 85th of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, walkability, and cell coverage, and lowest on state finances and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jersey City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $627,146. The overall cost of living runs about 36% above the national average. Set against a $107,438 median income, cost of living beats 32% of cities.
Is Jersey City safe?
Jersey City is safer than 41% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jersey City?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 28. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Jersey City?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Jersey City & The Waterfront, The Heights, and Liberty Park-Jersey City. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Jersey City good for families?
Schools beat 63% of cities, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $1,520 a month.
Is Jersey City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 32% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 17% of cities. About 24% of workers already work from home.
Compare Jersey City with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jersey City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jersey City 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.
Jersey City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jersey City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jersey City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jersey City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jersey City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jersey City 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.