Best PlacesWoodcliff Lake, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Woodcliff Lake, 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.
Woodcliff Lake ranks 1,202nd 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 Woodcliff Lake
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.
Woodcliff Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Woodcliff Lake ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$192,778 median, better than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
Where Woodcliff Lake ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,508 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Woodcliff Lake
A household needs to earn about $303,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Woodcliff Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $192,778, 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 Woodcliff Lake's effective rate of 1.83%, 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 Woodcliff Lake
Woodcliff Lake runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Woodcliff Lake.
Who works in Woodcliff Lake, and how
Work in Woodcliff Lake centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Woodcliff Lake
Woodcliff Lake has more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 32 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Woodcliff Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Woodcliff Lake, month by month
Woodcliff Lake sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Woodcliff Lake
The nearest airport, Westchester County, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 20 miles away.
The best schools in and around Woodcliff Lake
Schools across Woodcliff Lake average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dorchester Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Ridge Ranch Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodcliff Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- East Brook Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Pascack Hills High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Pascack Valley High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Woodcliff Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Woodcliff Lake 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 Woodcliff Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Woodcliff Lake
Is Woodcliff Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Woodcliff Lake ranks 1,202nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, high incomes, and population health, 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 Woodcliff Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,016,235. The overall cost of living runs about 27% above the national average. Set against a $192,778 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Woodcliff Lake safe?
Yes, Woodcliff Lake is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $147 per resident a year.
Compare Woodcliff Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Woodcliff Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Woodcliff Lake 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.
Woodcliff Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Woodcliff Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Woodcliff Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Woodcliff Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Woodcliff Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Woodcliff Lake 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.