Best PlacesMorris Plains, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Morris Plains, 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.
Morris Plains ranks 535th 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 Morris Plains
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.
Morris Plains' strengths and weaknesses
Where Morris Plains ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$163,862 median, better than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
Where Morris Plains ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,554 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Morris Plains
A household needs to earn about $175,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morris Plains home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $163,862; 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 Morris Plains' effective rate of 1.92%, 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 Morris Plains
Morris Plains runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Morris Plains.
Who works in Morris Plains, and how
Work in Morris Plains centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Morris Plains
Morris Plains has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 37 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Morris Plains and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Morris Plains, month by month
Morris Plains sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, 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 | 40° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Morris Plains
Newark Liberty International sits about 20 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 Morris Plains
Schools across Morris Plains average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Littleton Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Mountview Road SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Mount Tabor Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brooklawn Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Memorial Junior SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Valleyview Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Parsippany Hills High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Whippany Park High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Morris Knolls High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Morris Plains school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morris Plains 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 Morris Plains against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Morris Plains suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 28% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Morris Plains
Is Morris Plains a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morris Plains ranks 535th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, big-city access, and an educated workforce, and lowest on state finances and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Morris Plains expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $580,072. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $163,862 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Morris Plains safe?
Yes, Morris Plains is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $126 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Morris Plains?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 24. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of towns.
Is Morris Plains good for families?
Schools beat 69% of towns, crime safety beats 91%, and childcare runs $1,554 a month.
Compare Morris Plains with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morris Plains. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morris Plains 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.
Morris Plains detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morris Plains: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morris Plains: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morris Plains: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morris Plains: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morris Plains 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.