Best PlacesWatchung, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Watchung, 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.
Watchung ranks 3,984th 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 Watchung
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.
Watchung's strengths and weaknesses
Where Watchung ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$158,586 median, better than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
Where Watchung ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,548 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Watchung
A household needs to earn about $247,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Watchung home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $158,586, 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 Watchung's effective rate of 1.86%, 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 Watchung
Watchung runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Watchung.
Who works in Watchung, and how
Work in Watchung centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Watchung
Watchung has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns. The coast is about 23 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Watchung and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Watchung, month by month
Watchung sees roughly 74 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 Watchung
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 Watchung
Schools across Watchung average a B−, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain Park SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Thomas P. Hughes SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Irene E. Feldkirchner Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Warren Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Columbia Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Green Brook Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Watchung Hills Regional High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Governor Livingston High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- North Plainfield High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Watchung school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Watchung 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 Watchung against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Watchung
Is Watchung a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Watchung ranks 3,984th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, population health, and high incomes, and lowest on state finances and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Watchung expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $823,823. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $158,586 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Watchung safe?
Watchung is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $265 per resident a year.
Compare Watchung with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Watchung. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Watchung 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.
Watchung detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Watchung: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Watchung: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Watchung: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Watchung: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Watchung 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.