Best PlacesPleasant Plains, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pleasant 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.
Pleasant Plains ranks 2,111th 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 Pleasant 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.
Pleasant Plains' strengths and weaknesses
Where Pleasant Plains ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$155,910 median, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
Where Pleasant Plains ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 54 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,549 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Short commute33.3 minutes each way, better than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pleasant Plains
A household needs to earn about $197,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pleasant Plains home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $155,910, 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 Pleasant Plains' effective rate of 1.83%, 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 Pleasant Plains
Pleasant Plains runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pleasant Plains.
Who works in Pleasant Plains, and how
Work in Pleasant Plains centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Pleasant Plains
The coast is about 30 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Pleasant Plains, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pleasant Plains, month by month
Pleasant Plains sees roughly 54 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 67° | 52° | 39° |
| July | 90° | 76° | 64° |
| October | 71° | 56° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Pleasant Plains
The nearest airport, Trenton Mercer, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 27 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pleasant Plains
Schools across Pleasant Plains average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Claremont Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Brunswick Twp. Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Franklin Middle School At Sampson G. Smith CampusD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- South Brunswick High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Franklin High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- New Brunswick High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pleasant Plains school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pleasant 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 Pleasant Plains against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pleasant Plains
Is Pleasant Plains a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pleasant Plains ranks 2,111th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, big-city access, and few empty homes, and lowest on state finances and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pleasant Plains expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $661,659. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $155,910 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Pleasant Plains safe?
Yes, Pleasant Plains is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $148 per resident a year.
Compare Pleasant Plains with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pleasant Plains. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pleasant 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.
Pleasant Plains detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pleasant Plains: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pleasant Plains: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pleasant Plains: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pleasant Plains: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pleasant 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.