Best PlacesThe Heights, Jersey City, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around The Heights, Jersey City, 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.
The Heights, Jersey City ranks 1,997th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in The Heights, Jersey City
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 Heights, Jersey City's strengths and weaknesses
Where The Heights, Jersey City ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than 91% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
Where The Heights, Jersey City ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Short commute35.8 minutes each way, better than only 6% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$1,520 a month, better than only 19% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in The Heights, Jersey City
A household needs to earn about $171,000 a year to comfortably buy the median The Heights, Jersey City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,843, 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 The Heights, Jersey City's effective rate of 1.49%, 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 The Heights, Jersey City
The Heights, Jersey City runs younger 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 The Heights, Jersey City.
Who works in The Heights, Jersey City, and how
Work in The Heights, Jersey City centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 38%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 39%
Life in The Heights, Jersey City
The Heights, Jersey City has less late-night activity than most neighborhoods. The coast is about 16 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of The Heights, Jersey City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in The Heights, Jersey City, month by month
The Heights, Jersey City sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 35° | 28° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 69° | 60° | 52° |
Flying in and out of The Heights, Jersey City
Newark Liberty International sits about 7 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 The Heights, Jersey City
Schools across The Heights, Jersey City average a D+, better than 22% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Wallace Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Jotham W. Wakeman SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Jersey City Global Charter SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Academy IA− · 55% proficient
- Hoboken Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Emerson Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Hoboken High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Union City High SchoolD · 18% proficient
- William L Dickinson High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every The Heights, Jersey City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
The Heights, Jersey City 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 The Heights, Jersey City against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Who The Heights, Jersey City suits
Families
Schools land around the 22nd percentile and crime safety beats 75%.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in The Heights, Jersey City
Is The Heights, Jersey City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, The Heights, Jersey City ranks 1,997th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on big-city access, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on state finances and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is The Heights, Jersey City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $597,977. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $95,843 median income, cost of living beats 38% of neighborhoods.
Is The Heights, Jersey City safe?
Yes, The Heights, Jersey City is safer than 75% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $215 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in The Heights, Jersey City?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 28. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of neighborhoods.
Is The Heights, Jersey City good for families?
Schools beat 22% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 75%, and childcare runs $1,520 a month.
Compare The Heights, Jersey City with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to The Heights, Jersey City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in The Heights, Jersey City 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.
The Heights, Jersey City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for The Heights, Jersey City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in The Heights, Jersey City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of The Heights, Jersey City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in The Heights, Jersey City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
The Heights, Jersey City 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.