Best PlacesVan Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield, 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.
Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield ranks 3,706th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield
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.
Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield ranks high
- QuietBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than 78% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than 76% of neighborhoods
Where Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $85,319, 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 Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield's effective rate of 2.31%, 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 Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield
Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield runs younger 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 Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield.
Who works in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield, and how
Work in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield centers on construction and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield
The coast is about 20 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield, month by month
Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 35° | 29° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 78° | 71° |
| October | 68° | 59° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield
Newark Liberty International sits about 14 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 Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield
Schools across Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield average a D, better than 21% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Cedarbrook Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hubbard Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield 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 Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield
Is Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield ranks 3,706th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on quiet, big-city access, and heat safety, 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 Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $382,055. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $85,319 median income, cost of living beats 40% of neighborhoods.
Is Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield safe?
Yes, Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield is safer than 66% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $248 per resident a year.
Compare Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield 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.
Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, Plainfield 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.