Best PlacesRoselle, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Roselle, 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.
Roselle ranks 17,164th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Roselle
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.
Roselle's strengths and weaknesses
Where Roselle ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
Where Roselle ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,432 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Roselle
A household needs to earn about $126,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Roselle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,647, 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 Roselle's effective rate of 2.70%, 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 Roselle
Roselle'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 Roselle.
Who works in Roselle, and how
Work in Roselle 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 74%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Roselle
Roselle has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 17 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Roselle and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Roselle, month by month
Roselle 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 Roselle
Newark Liberty International sits about 6 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 Roselle
Schools across Roselle average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hillside Avenue SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Washington Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Number 5D · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- William F. Halloran School No.22B− · 40% proficient
- Joseph E. Soehl Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Grace Wilday Junior High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Cranford High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Elizabeth High School - Frank J Cicarell AcademyB · 47% proficient
- Linden High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Roselle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Roselle 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 Roselle against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Roselle suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Roselle
Is Roselle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Roselle ranks 17,164th of 50,333 towns. 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 Roselle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $384,037. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $95,647 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Roselle safe?
Roselle is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Roselle?
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 42% of towns.
Is Roselle good for families?
Schools beat 3% of towns, crime safety beats 36%, and childcare runs $1,432 a month.
Compare Roselle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Roselle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Roselle 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.
Roselle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Roselle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Roselle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Roselle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Roselle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Roselle 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.