Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Overall, Clark Township earns a B+: better than 73% of U.S. towns, and 189th of 466 in New Jersey. Its strongest is incomes (A+): the median household earns $134K. Health is a strength too — it is healthier than 94% of U.S. towns. What holds it back is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $718K, 7.2 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. 22% of the land in the town is conserved, above both the New Jersey town median (11%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). This New Jersey town has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Seventeenth Century Clark House and Homestead Farm at Oak Ridge. The town is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. Its other grades sit near the middle: C+ for safety and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · FBI crime data, 2025 · FEMA National Risk Index · USGS PAD-US · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Clark Township beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Clark Township is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for jobs and income (better than 97% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 11%), so the B+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 331 in 1870, 15,544 in 2020. The archive holds 13 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Clark Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw19 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw22 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw19 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw20 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw18 mi BeachConey Island
Big draw17 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 · Coney Island: OptimumPx, Public domain · National September 11 Memorial & Museum: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Clark Township, 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 Clark Township.
Clark Township trades workers with New York City and other neighbors and has less food insecurity than most of New Jersey, but it reports more crime than Rahway and its other graded neighbors.
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 8.5% of its 12,428 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide.
The share of adults in Clark Township who report frequent mental distress: 14%. Against the New Jersey average, Clark Township comes out ahead on 12 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 1.
| Clark Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 28% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 16% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 15% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 22% | 25% |
| What stands out | Clark Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.5% | 14.3% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 4.5% | 7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Below: Three of its 9 schools, each with why it was picked. Its public schools are run by the Clark Township Public School District. The largest public high school is Arthur L. Johnson High School, with 785 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank K. HehnlyLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 543 | A− |
| Arthur L. Johnson High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 785 | B |
| Valley Road SchoolTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 390 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
4.7 miles of trail wind through 3 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Rahway River Park, 188 acres with 1.4 miles of trail. The concentration of trails for Clark Township comes to 1.1 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rahway River Park | 1.4 mi | 188 |
| 2. Oak Ridge Park | 0.9 mi | 112 |
| 3. Milton Lake Park | 0.1 mi | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Typical home values rose 2.4% in the year to September 2026. Clark Township’s midpoint rent stands at $1,743 a month. Among households locally, 77% live in a home they own.
| Clark Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,743 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 77% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expect July afternoons of 87° and January nights of 24°, with about 21 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Clark Township has about as many jobs (10,064) as working residents, but only 582 people both live and work here.
In Clark Township, 2.4% of residents live below the poverty line. For most workers, Clark Township is a place to come home to: only 7% work in town. Since 2013, Clark Township has added 1,913 jobs, to 10,064 in 2023. Its mean commuting time comes in at 28 minutes.
| Clark Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $134,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 2.4% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 18% | 16% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For residents in Clark Township, the share who are under 18 is 24%. Adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (21% statewide); people 65 and older are 22% of residents (17% statewide). 16,418 people lived in Clark Township by the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate, 5.7% more than in 2020. The bachelor’s-degree share among adults 25 and older is 47%, against 44% across New Jersey.
| Clark Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 47% | 45% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 18% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 24% | 21% | 22% |
| Median age | 42.9 years | 42 years | 40.5 years |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.2 points. Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women.
| Clark Township | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.4% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.2% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.6% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.7% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.9% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.2% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.4% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.2% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 11.3% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.5% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 25% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.9% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.4% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 28.2% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 19% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Each of the 4 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Rahway (B) to Scotch Plains Township (A−). At 22.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 76% of New Jersey’s graded towns.
Its violent crime rate is 0.2 per 1,000 residents. In Clark Township, the rate of thefts and burglaries is 13.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Clark Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 13.6 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
114 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 13 properties have flooded more than once.
Compared with 52% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in Clark Township is lower. Since 1978, 114 flood insurance claims have been paid out here. Expected losses in Clark Township break down as 74% from inland flooding and 8% from earthquakes. Households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2021.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
27 within 15 miles of the center of Clark Township
About 4 of every 100 Clark Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
2 places in Clark Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Clark Township.
Township in Union County, New Jersey, US
Clark is a township in southern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 15,544, an increase of 788 (+5.3%) from the 2010 census count of 14,756, which in turn reflected an increase of 159 (+1.1%) from the 14,597 counted in the 2000 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Clark Township.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clark Township | #189 | B+ | D | C+ | B+ | A |
| Scotch Plains Township | #72 | A | D | A− | A− | A+ |
| Winfield Township | — | — | B− | B | D | B |
| Rahway | #363 | C | D | B | D | B+ |
| Cranford Township | #55 | A | D | A− | A− | A+ |
| Linden | #360 | C | D | — | C− | B |
Winfield Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Linden reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Clark Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Clark Township grades B+ overall, better than 73% of U.S. towns and #189 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A for health, C+ for safety and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
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.
4 notable people were born here, including Frank Spaziani and Todd Burger.
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