Best PlacesPassaic County, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Passaic 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.
Passaic County ranks 852nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 32 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and walkability. The cost shows up in state finances, property taxes, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Passaic 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 Passaic County
The parts of Passaic 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.
Wayne, West Milford & Wanaque
Tree cover is thicker, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
North Haledon
More adults hold degrees, though streets are more car-dependent.
Hawthorne
Health care is easier to reach, though it is noisier.
Woodland Park & Little Falls
Prices have run up less, though fewer households have young kids.
Passaic & Clifton
Fewer residents vote.
Paterson
Crime runs higher and health outcomes score lower.
Passaic County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Passaic County's strengths and weaknesses
Passaic County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Walkability and fast internet follow.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and childcare costs also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Passaic County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of counties
Where Passaic County ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,458 a month, better than only 3% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Passaic County
A household needs to earn about $143,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Passaic County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,191, 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 Passaic County's effective rate of 2.27%, 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 Passaic County
Passaic County'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 Passaic County.
Who works in Passaic County, and how
Work in Passaic County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Passaic County
The coast is about 32 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Passaic County, which the map shows.
Is Passaic County growing, and who is moving in?
Passaic County has grown about 4% 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 Passaic County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Passaic County, month by month
Passaic County sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Passaic County
Newark Liberty International sits about 16 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 Passaic County
Schools across Passaic County average a D+, better than 11% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- School 28A · 70% proficient
- Lyncrest Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Harbor View School (the)B · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Schuyler Colfax Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Anthony Wayne Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Memorial Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Port Richmond High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Diana C. Lobosco Stem AcademyA− · 66% proficient
- Fair Lawn High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Passaic County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Passaic 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 Passaic County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Passaic County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Passaic County
Is Passaic County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Passaic County ranks 852nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, walkability, and fast internet, and lowest on state finances and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Passaic County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $456,204. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $97,191 median income, cost of living beats 61% of counties.
Is Passaic County safe?
Passaic County is safer than 39% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Passaic County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 24. That works out to about 59 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Passaic County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wayne, West Milford & Wanaque, North Haledon, and Hawthorne. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Passaic County good for families?
Schools beat 11% of counties, crime safety beats 39%, and childcare runs $1,458 a month.
Is Passaic County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 61% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 99% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Passaic County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Passaic County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Passaic 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.
Passaic County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Passaic County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Passaic County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Passaic County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Passaic County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Passaic 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.