Best places to live in NJ, by your priorities.
Most “best towns” lists hide their math. This one shows it, and you set the weights. Move a slider and the ranking of 258 North & Central NJ towns updates instantly.
What matters to you?
0 = ignore, 5 = very important
Data: Zillow ZHVI (Sept. 2026); NJ Division of Taxation 2025; U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2020–2024.
Your top 25
Single-factor rankings
Questions, answered
How is this “best places to live” score calculated?
Each town gets a 0–100 score on eight public-data factors (home value, effective tax rate, commute time, transit share, income, education, homeownership and 5-year value growth). Each factor is converted to a percentile among the towns (0 = lowest, 100 = highest, flipped where lower is better) and weighted. Home values use the Census median owner-estimated value so every town is measured the same way. You choose the weights. Default weights favor affordability, low taxes and short commutes.
Why don’t you include school ratings or crime?
I only publish numbers from official sources I can cite. For schools, use New Jersey’s School Performance Reports.
Which towns are included?
Municipalities with at least 2,000 residents in Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Union, Middlesex, Somerset and Monmouth counties.
Found a town you like?
I’ll show you what’s for sale there and what it really costs to own.