Best PlacesPassaic, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Passaic, 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.
Passaic ranks 1,879th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Passaic
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.
Passaic's strengths and weaknesses
Where Passaic ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of cities
- TransitBetter than 98% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of cities
Where Passaic ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 2% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Passaic
A household needs to earn about $139,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Passaic home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,640, 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's effective rate of 2.33%, 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
Passaic runs younger than the country, 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.
Who works in Passaic, and how
Work in Passaic centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 24%
Life in Passaic
Passaic has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of cities and more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. The coast is about 27 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Passaic and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Passaic, month by month
Passaic sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Passaic
Newark Liberty International sits about 12 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
Schools across Passaic average a D−, better than 3% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Frank W. Gavlak Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Jefferson (annex) Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- School #8D+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Union SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Veterans Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Passaic Gifted And Talented Academy School No. 20D+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Rutherford High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Passaic Academy For Science And EngineeringC+ · 36% proficient
- North Arlington High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Passaic school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Passaic 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 against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Passaic suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% 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
Is Passaic a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Passaic ranks 1,879th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on walkability, big-city access, and fast internet, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Passaic expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $440,090. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $61,640 median income, cost of living beats 2% of cities.
Is Passaic safe?
Passaic is safer than 23% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $281 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Passaic?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 26. That works out to about 57 pleasant days a year, more than 4% of cities.
Is Passaic good for families?
Schools beat 3% of cities, crime safety beats 23%, and childcare runs $1,458 a month.
Compare Passaic with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Passaic. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Passaic 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Passaic: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Passaic: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Passaic: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Passaic: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Passaic 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.