Best PlacesRahway, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rahway, 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.
Rahway ranks 1,294th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rahway
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.
Rahway's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rahway ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 92% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 75% of cities
- BikingBetter than 73% of cities
Where Rahway ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 4% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rahway
A household needs to earn about $123,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rahway home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $98,809, 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 Rahway's effective rate of 2.40%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rahway
Rahway's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rahway.
Who works in Rahway, and how
Work in Rahway centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Rahway
Rahway has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of cities and more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rahway and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rahway, month by month
Rahway sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 35° | 29° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 78° | 71° |
| October | 68° | 59° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Rahway
Newark Liberty International sits about 8 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 Rahway
Schools across Rahway average a D, better than 4% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Madison Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Number 8D · 19% proficient
- Roosevelt Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Joseph E. Soehl Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Myles J. Mcmanus Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Rahway 7th & 8th Grade AcademyD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Linden High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Rahway High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rahway school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rahway 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 Rahway against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Rahway suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Rahway
Is Rahway a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rahway ranks 1,294th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on walkability, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rahway expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $386,014. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $98,809 median income, cost of living beats 37% of cities.
Is Rahway safe?
Rahway is safer than 35% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rahway?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 29. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of cities.
Is Rahway good for families?
Schools beat 4% of cities, crime safety beats 35%, and childcare runs $1,432 a month.
Compare Rahway with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rahway. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rahway 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.
Rahway detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rahway: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rahway: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rahway: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rahway: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rahway 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.