Best PlacesStanhope, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stanhope, 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.
Stanhope ranks 3,654th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stanhope
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.
Stanhope's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stanhope ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$141,158 median, better than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
Where Stanhope ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,433 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Short commute37.0 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stanhope
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stanhope home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $141,158, 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 Stanhope's effective rate of 2.55%, 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 Stanhope
Stanhope'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 Stanhope.
Who works in Stanhope, and how
Work in Stanhope centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Stanhope
Stanhope has more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Stanhope and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Stanhope, month by month
Stanhope sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Stanhope
Newark Liberty International sits about 33 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 Stanhope
Schools across Stanhope average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Willow Grove Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Sandshore Rd. Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Valley Road SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Olive Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Byram Intermediate SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Hackettstown Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Olive High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Hackettstown High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Lenape Valley Regional High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stanhope school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stanhope 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 Stanhope against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stanhope
Is Stanhope a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stanhope ranks 3,654th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and high incomes, 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 Stanhope expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $385,310. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $141,158 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Stanhope safe?
Yes, Stanhope is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $122 per resident a year.
Compare Stanhope with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stanhope. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stanhope 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.
Stanhope detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stanhope: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stanhope: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stanhope: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stanhope: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stanhope 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.