Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 8,663, settled in 1861.
Closter is one of the best-graded places in America: an A, ranked 58th of 466 in New Jersey. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 97% of the country, its schools rank ahead of 93% of New Jersey towns, and the median household earns $190K. The exception is cost of living: homes are expensive, about $1.2 million for a typical one and 12.1 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Closter’s midpoint rent is $2,721 a month, where New Jersey’s towns sit at $1,778 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. Closter is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. Closter has 10 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Abram Demaree House and William De Clark House.
Where Closter beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Closter | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 3.8% | 7% |
Census counts: 513 in 1890, 8,594 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1740 and 4 maps from 1897 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Closter is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for health (better than 97% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 2%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Closter. Close and well known come first.
Big draw13 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw16 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw13 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw13 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw15 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw10 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 · MetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 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 Closter, 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 Closter.
Closter has schools in the top 5% of New Jersey, sends many workers across the state line and is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s.
At 12.1 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $1.2M) costs more against local pay than in 94% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
Closter: just over four in five households are owner-occupiers. Home values are up 9.4% over the year to September 2026. On the market locally: a median 98 days to sell.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
That grade ranks #16 of the 465 New Jersey towns we grade for schools. It comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.2M.
Two of the 3 schools are below, and why each made the list. Public schools: the Closter Public School District.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillside Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 599 | A+ |
| Tenakill Middle SchoolTop results in townGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 593 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New Jersey is utility shut-off threats: 3.8% of its 6,451 adults were threatened with a utility shut-off, against 7% statewide. Against the 1,115 U.S. towns with household incomes like Closter’s, it is healthier than 70%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Among adults in Closter, 9.2% have diabetes. 22% of adults locally have obesity; 12% report frequent mental distress.
| Closter | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 16% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 28% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.3% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Closter | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 3.8% | 7% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.2% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Count the trails in 1 park or preserve and they come to 3.3 miles. Closter has one park or preserve, 5 acres in all.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ruckman Field | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 11.3 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 55% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 1 reported in 2025, 0.1 per 1,000 residents.
The level of violent crime for Closter comes to 0.1 per 1,000 residents. The property crime rate for Closter comes to 8.9 per 1,000 residents.
| Closter | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.1 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 8.9 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
On expected storm and flood damage, Closter sits below just over two thirds of U.S. communities. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 11 declared disasters, most recently in 2021. 74% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by hurricanes at 6%. Since 1979, 38 flood insurance claims have been paid out locally.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 23° and about 33 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
28% of working residents cross a state line to work. 26.6% of workers work from home, against 16.8% across New Jersey.
The top destinations are New York (29%), Englewood (3%) and Paramus (2%). Most people who work leave Closter to do it: just 6% work in town. Since 2013, Closter has added 291 jobs, to 3,060 in 2023. Its mean commuting time stands at 33 minutes.
| Closter | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $190,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 27% | 16% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 8.1% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
75 within 15 miles of the center of Closter
About 5 of every 100 Closter residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
10 places in Closter on the National Register of Historic Places.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Closter (English pronunciation: /ˈkloʊstəɹ/ ) 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 8,594, an increase of 221 (+2.6%) from the 2010 census count of 8,373, which in turn reflected a decline of 10 (−0.1%) from the 8,383 counted in the 2000 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Closter.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closter | #58 | A | D− | B+ | A | A+ |
| Harrington Park | #4 | A+ | D | A+ | A | A+ |
| Norwood | #64 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Emerson | #19 | A+ | D | A+ | B+ | A+ |
| Demarest | #123 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Alpine | — | — | D− | B+ | A+ | A+ |
| Haworth | #23 | A+ | D | — | A | A+ |
Alpine has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Norwood, Demarest and Haworth report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Closter with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Closter grades A overall, better than 93% of U.S. towns and #58 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A+ for health, B+ for safety and A 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−.
_-_Full_(48124330357).jpg){kind=link}
_-_Central_Park,_NYC.jpg){kind=link}
