Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 26,539, settled in 1900.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Cliffside Park grades B overall, ranked 263rd of 466 in New Jersey. It is among the most walkable places in the country. Residents are healthier than 76% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The catch is cost: homes are expensive, about $625K for a typical one and 6.3 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Cliffside Park's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 98% of U.S. towns. Cliffside Park’s average trip to work is 36 minutes, above both New Jersey’s towns (30 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes).
Where Cliffside Park beats most towns.
Where Cliffside Park’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Cliffside Park is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 3%), so the B overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 968 in 1900, 25,693 in 2020. The archive holds 10 old photos and papers going back to 1923 and 7 maps from 1897 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cliffside Park. Close and well known come first.
Big draw3 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw5 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw3 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw5 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw4 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw3 mi Stadium & arenaYankee StadiumCentral Park: Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Madison Square Garden: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · MetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Yankee Stadium: Matt Boulton, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cliffside Park, 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 Cliffside Park.
Cliffside Park sends many workers across the state line, is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s and is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in New Jersey.
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 67% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
15% of Cliffside Park adults have been diagnosed with depression. Cliffside Park beats the New Jersey average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 15% of Cliffside Park adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Cliffside Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 23% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 36% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| What stands out | Cliffside Park | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 15.1% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Cliffside Park School District. Two of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| School #6/Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 679 | B |
| Cliffside Park High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,314 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
30% of working residents cross a state line to work. Cliffside Park has 2,530 jobs for its 10,601 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Cliffside Park for work: only 5% work in town. Jobs based in Cliffside Park grew to 2,530 in 2023, 210 more than in 2013. 11% of residents live below the poverty line in Cliffside Park.
| Cliffside Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 18% | 16% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $93,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.8% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 10.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 60% of New Jersey’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Cliffside Park has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 25° and about 30 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
People 65 and older are 22% of residents (17% statewide). Cliffside Park has grown 3.2% since 2020, to 26,539 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 42% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 44% across New Jersey.
| Cliffside Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 18% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 42% | 45% | 29% |
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. Median age: women 43.1, men 39.4.
| Cliffside Park | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.1% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.1% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 16.1% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.3% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.9% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.1% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.2% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.3% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 13.7% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.4% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 13% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.9% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.4% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 17.6% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
At about $625K, home values are up 19% in five years, against a rise of 35% across New Jersey.
The median rent in Cliffside Park is $1,837 a month. The typical Cliffside Park home is worth about $625,000, up 1.1% in a year, 9% above the New Jersey typical home.
| Cliffside Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 51% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,837 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| Cliffside Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Honor Park | 0.2 mi | 1 |
| 2. Cliffside Park Memorial Park | 0.2 mi | 1 |
| 3. Zalewski Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 52% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Cliffside Park since 2023.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
139 within 15 miles of the center of Cliffside Park
About 5 of every 100 Cliffside Park residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Cliffside Park is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 25,693, an increase of 2,099 (+8.9%) from the 2010 census count of 23,594, which in turn reflected an increase of 587 (+2.6%) from the 23,007 counted in the 2000 census. Cliffside Park was formed based on the results of a referendum held on January 15, 1895, from portions of Ridgefield Township. The borough was formed during the "Boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County, as one of two boroughs created in 1895 after 26 boroughs were formed in the county in 1894 alone. The borough was named for its location as a "Park by the Cliffs…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Cliffside Park.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliffside Park | #263 | B | D− | B+ | C+ | A− |
| Edgewater | #208 | B+ | D− | B | B+ | A+ |
| Fairview | #440 | D− | D | — | D− | C+ |
| Ridgefield | #196 | B+ | D− | A− | B− | A |
Fairview reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Cliffside Park with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Cliffside Park grades B overall, better than 55% of U.S. towns and #263 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A− for health, B+ for safety and C+ 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−.
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