Best PlacesNew Vernon, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around New Vernon, 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.
New Vernon ranks 1,115th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in New Vernon
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.
New Vernon's strengths and weaknesses
Where New Vernon ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$245,074 median, better than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
Where New Vernon ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,554 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of towns
- Short commute31.0 minutes each way, better than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in New Vernon
A household needs to earn about $327,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Vernon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $245,074, 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 New Vernon's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 New Vernon
New Vernon runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for New Vernon.
Who works in New Vernon, and how
Work in New Vernon centers on finance & insurance and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in New Vernon
The coast is about 35 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across New Vernon, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in New Vernon, month by month
New Vernon 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 New Vernon
Newark Liberty International sits about 17 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 New Vernon
Schools across New Vernon average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Harding Township SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Ridge High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Chatham High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Bernards High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Vernon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Vernon 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 New Vernon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in New Vernon
Is New Vernon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Vernon ranks 1,115th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and big-city access, 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 New Vernon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,234,191. The overall cost of living runs about 21% above the national average. Set against a $245,074 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is New Vernon safe?
Yes, New Vernon is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare New Vernon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Vernon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Vernon 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.
New Vernon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Vernon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Vernon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Vernon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Vernon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Vernon 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.