Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,966, settled in 1872.
Few places in the country grade higher. Bernardsville earns an A+, ranked 41st of 466 in New Jersey. It is among the healthiest towns in the country on CDC estimates, the median household earns $236K, and crime is low: it reports less per resident than 92% of U.S. towns. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.0 million, 10.4 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. 73% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Bernardsville, above both the New Jersey town median (45%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Bernardsville has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Bernardsville Station and John Parker Tavern. Bernardsville's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 86% of U.S. towns.
Where Bernardsville beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Bernardsville | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7% | 14.3% |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Bernardsville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,336 in 1930, 7,893 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 6 maps from 1891 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bernardsville. Close and well known come first.
Big draw31 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw33 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw28 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw32 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw33 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw30 mi MuseumNational September 11 Memorial & MuseumMadison Square Garden: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Central Park: Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · MetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · National September 11 Memorial & Museum: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bernardsville, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Bernardsville.
Bernardsville has less food insecurity than most of New Jersey and has household incomes well above the New Jersey norm, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey.
At 10.4 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $1.03M) costs more against local pay than in 90% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
In the year to September 2026, typical home values climbed 6.6%. Bernardsville’s midpoint rent comes in at $2,297 a month. The share of households in Bernardsville who are owner-occupiers: 95%.
| Bernardsville | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,297 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 95% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Public schools: the Somerset Hills Regional School District. The largest public high school is Bernards High School, with 751 students. The 3 public schools in Bernardsville teach 1,605 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marion T. Bedwell Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 435 | A− |
| Bernards High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 751 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 7% of its 5,886 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide. Against the 531 U.S. towns with household incomes like Bernardsville’s, it is healthier than 66%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Two figures for adults in Bernardsville: 7.2% smoke cigarettes, 9.7% report frequent physical distress. The town does better than the New Jersey average on 20 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 1. Among adults locally, 11% say their health is fair or poor.
| Bernardsville | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.2% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 12% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 15% | 19% |
| What stands out | Bernardsville | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7% | 14.3% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 6.5% | 12.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.6% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Violent crime is rare: 0 reported in 2025, 0 per 1,000 residents.
Bernardsville’s property offense rate is 2.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Bernardsville | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.8 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, at 216 acres with 5.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Trails total 8.5 miles in 1 park or preserve. The trail density for Bernardsville comes to 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Bernardsville | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 9.1% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary | 5.5 mi | 216 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 21° and about 30 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
27.7% of workers work from home, against 16.8% across New Jersey.
For residents in Bernardsville, the share who live below the poverty line is 1.1%. Most working residents leave Bernardsville for work: only 8% work in town. The mean commuting time locally is 28 minutes. Employers in Bernardsville added 139 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 2,717.
| Bernardsville | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $236,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 28% | 16% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 1.1% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in 63% of U.S. communities. Bernardsville has had 23 paid flood insurance claims since 1978. 77% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Bernardsville after 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2021.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
10 within 15 miles of the center of Bernardsville
About 4 of every 100 Bernardsville residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
5 places in Bernardsville on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Bernardsville.
Borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, US
Bernardsville () is the northernmost borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. Situated within the heart of the Raritan Valley and Somerset Hills regions, the borough is an historic and wealthy bedroom community of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,893, an increase of 186 (+2.4%) from the 2010 census count of 7,707, which in turn had reflected an increase of 362 (+4.9%) from the 7,345 counted at the 2000 census. Bernardsville is often mispronounced as "Ber-NARDS-ville" as opposed to the correct pronunciation, "BER-nards-ville". Bernardsville was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jers…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Bernardsville.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bernardsville | #41 | A+ | D | A | B+ | A+ |
| Bernards Township | #17 | A+ | D | A+ | A | A+ |
| Basking Ridge | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mendham Township | #84 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Peapack and Gladstone | #128 | A | C− | — | B+ | A+ |
| Harding Township | #10 | A+ | D | A | A+ | A+ |
| Far Hills | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Mendham Township and Peapack and Gladstone report no FBI crime data of their own. Basking Ridge and Far Hills aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Bernardsville with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Bernardsville grades A+ overall, better than 95% of U.S. towns and #41 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A+ for health, A for safety and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes, by national standards. Bernardsville reports less crime per resident than 92% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade: 0 violent and 23 property crimes in 2025.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
5 notable people were born here, including Rodney Young and Bill Kirchiro.
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