Best PlacesTrenton, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Trenton metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Trenton ranks 88th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $121,226, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are state finances, property taxes, and the weather.
The best neighborhoods in the Trenton metro
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 Trenton
The towns and districts of the Trenton metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Princeton, Princeton Junction & Hightstown
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and schools score higher.
Hamilton Square
Local pay stretches further and more residents vote.
Pennington, Hopewell & Titusville
Tree cover is thicker, though streets are more car-dependent.
Yardville
Crime runs lower and health care is easier to reach.
Mercerville
Transit reaches more jobs, though it is noisier.
White Horse
Homes cost less and more households have young kids.
Downtown Trenton
Prices have run up more and health outcomes score lower.
Trenton shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Trenton's strengths and weaknesses
Trenton ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. High incomes and walkability follow.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and the weather also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Trenton ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Household income$121,226 median, better than 98% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of metro areas
Where Trenton ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,394 a month, better than only 10% of metro areas
- Short commute27.1 minutes each way, better than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Trenton
A household needs to earn about $138,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Trenton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $121,226, 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 Trenton's effective rate of 2.19%, 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 Trenton
Trenton'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 Trenton.
Who works in Trenton, and how
Work in Trenton centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Trenton
Trenton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 72% of metro areas. The coast is about 38 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Trenton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Trenton growing, and who is moving in?
Trenton has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Trenton go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Trenton, month by month
Trenton sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Trenton
The nearest airport, Trenton Mercer, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 36 miles away.
The best schools in and around Trenton
Schools across Trenton average a C−, better than 15% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Makefield El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Maurice Hawk Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Sharon SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thomas R Grover Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Pond Road Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Timberlane Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- West Windsor-plainsboro High School NorthA · 70% proficient
- West Windsor-plainsboro High School SouthA · 68% proficient
- Mercer County Technical School Stem AcademyB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Trenton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Trenton 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 Trenton against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Trenton suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 19% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Trenton
Is Trenton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Trenton ranks 88th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on big-city access, high incomes, and walkability, 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 Trenton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $443,775. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $121,226 median income, cost of living beats 97% of metro areas.
Is Trenton safe?
Trenton is safer than 50% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Trenton?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 24. That works out to about 59 pleasant days a year, more than 2% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Trenton?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Princeton, Princeton Junction & Hightstown, Hamilton Square, and Pennington, Hopewell & Titusville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Trenton good for families?
Schools beat 15% of metro areas, crime safety beats 50%, and childcare runs $1,394 a month.
Is Trenton good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 70% of metro areas. About 19% of workers already work from home.
Compare Trenton with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Trenton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Trenton 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.
Trenton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Trenton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Trenton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Trenton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Trenton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Trenton 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.