Best PlacesTotowa, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Totowa, 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.
Totowa ranks 6,640th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Totowa
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.
Totowa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Totowa ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
Where Totowa ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,458 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Totowa
A household needs to earn about $166,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Totowa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $119,410, 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 Totowa's effective rate of 1.89%, 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 Totowa
Totowa runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Totowa.
Who works in Totowa, and how
Work in Totowa centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Totowa
Totowa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. The coast is about 31 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Totowa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Totowa, month by month
Totowa sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Totowa
Newark Liberty International sits about 15 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 Totowa
Schools across Totowa average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Randall Carter Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Ryerson Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- School 27D · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- George Washington Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Washington Park SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Joseph A. Taub SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Wayne Valley High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Passaic Valley Regional High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- John F. Kennedy High SchoolF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Totowa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Totowa 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 Totowa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Totowa
Is Totowa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Totowa ranks 6,640th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, walkability, and transit, and lowest on state finances and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Totowa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $551,584. The overall cost of living runs about 21% above the national average. Set against a $119,410 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Totowa safe?
Totowa is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $297 per resident a year.
Compare Totowa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Totowa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Totowa 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.
Totowa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Totowa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Totowa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Totowa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Totowa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Totowa 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.