Best PlacesLinden, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Linden, 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.
Linden ranks 1,440th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Linden
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.
Linden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Linden ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of cities
- TransitBetter than 91% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 75% of cities
Where Linden ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Linden
A household needs to earn about $130,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Linden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $94,940, 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 Linden's effective rate of 2.16%, 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 Linden
Linden's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Linden.
Who works in Linden, and how
Work in Linden centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Linden
Linden has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Linden and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Linden, month by month
Linden sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 35° | 29° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 78° | 71° |
| October | 68° | 59° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Linden
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 Linden
Schools across Linden average a D, better than 6% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Ps 26 Carteret School (the)A · 68% proficient
- Hillside Avenue SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Newbury Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- William F. Halloran School No.22B− · 40% proficient
- Howell Township Middle School SouthC · 34% proficient
- Howell Township Middle School NorthC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Cranford High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Arthur L. Johnson High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Carteret High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Linden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Linden 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 Linden against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Linden suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Linden
Is Linden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Linden ranks 1,440th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on walkability, big-city access, and cell coverage, and lowest on state finances and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Linden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $419,897. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $94,940 median income, cost of living beats 31% of cities.
Is Linden safe?
Linden is safer than 37% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Linden?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 29. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of cities.
Is Linden good for families?
Schools beat 6% of cities, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $1,432 a month.
Compare Linden with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Linden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Linden 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.
Linden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Linden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Linden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Linden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Linden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Linden 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.