Best PlacesUpper Montclair, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Upper Montclair, 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.
Upper Montclair ranks 426th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Upper Montclair
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.
Upper Montclair's strengths and weaknesses
Where Upper Montclair ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$227,842 median, better than 99% of towns
Where Upper Montclair ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute40.5 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,400 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Upper Montclair
A household needs to earn about $325,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Upper Montclair home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $227,842, 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 Upper Montclair's effective rate of 2.39%, 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 Upper Montclair
Upper Montclair's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Upper Montclair.
Who works in Upper Montclair, and how
Work in Upper Montclair centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 38%
- Work from home 40%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Upper Montclair
Upper Montclair has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns and more parkland per resident than 91% of towns. The coast is about 30 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Upper Montclair and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Upper Montclair, month by month
Upper Montclair 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 Upper Montclair
Newark Liberty International sits about 11 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 Upper Montclair
Schools across Upper Montclair average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Charles H. Bullock SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Northeast Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Bradford Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buzz Aldrin Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Woodrow Wilson Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Montclair High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Clifton High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Upper Montclair school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Upper Montclair 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 Upper Montclair against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Upper Montclair
Is Upper Montclair a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Upper Montclair ranks 426th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, big-city access, and an educated workforce, 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 Upper Montclair expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,020,639. The overall cost of living runs about 26% above the national average. Set against a $227,842 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Upper Montclair safe?
Yes, Upper Montclair is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $188 per resident a year.
Compare Upper Montclair with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Upper Montclair. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Upper Montclair 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.
Upper Montclair detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Upper Montclair: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Upper Montclair: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Upper Montclair: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Upper Montclair: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Upper Montclair 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.