Best PlacesRiverside, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Riverside, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Riverside ranks 1,082nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Riverside
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 Riverside
The parts of Riverside, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Millside Heights
Riverside Gardens
Cambridge & Lower Avenues
Riverside shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Riverside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Riverside ranks high
- QuietBetter than 98% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 73% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 72% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 69% of cities
Where Riverside ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,470 a month, better than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Riverside
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riverside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $103,101, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Riverside'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 Riverside
Riverside'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 Riverside.
Who works in Riverside, and how
Work in Riverside centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Riverside
Riverside has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Riverside and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Riverside, month by month
Riverside sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Riverside
Philadelphia International sits about 19 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 14.8 million passengers in 2025, with 179 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Riverside
Schools across Riverside average a D+, better than 10% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Delran Intermediate SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- W. R. James Sr. Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
- M. Joan Pearson Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Delran Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Walnut Street SchoolD− · 17% proficient
- Willingboro Memorial Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Delran High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Willingboro High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Riverside High SchoolF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riverside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riverside 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 Riverside against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Riverside suits
Families
Schools land around the 10th percentile and crime safety beats 72%.
Common questions about living in Riverside
Is Riverside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riverside ranks 1,082nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on quiet, big-city access, and walkability, 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 Riverside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $297,339. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $103,101 median income, cost of living beats 63% of cities.
Is Riverside safe?
Yes, Riverside is safer than 72% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $178 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Riverside?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 57 pleasant days a year, more than 4% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Riverside?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Millside Heights, Riverside Gardens, and Cambridge & Lower Avenues. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Riverside with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riverside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riverside 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.
Riverside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riverside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riverside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riverside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riverside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riverside 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.