Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
24,725 people live in this town, settled in 1868.
Plenty to like here, at a price. Its strongest subject is health (A+). Cranford Township’s overall grade of A puts it better than 94% of U.S. towns, 55th of 466 in New Jersey. It also does well on incomes (A+): the median household earns $156K. The trade-off is cost of living — the typical home is worth about $774K, 7.8 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. The town is home to UCNJ Union College of Union County, New Jersey. Nearly two thirds of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in the town, against 45% in New Jersey’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns. This New Jersey town is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow.
Where Cranford Township beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Cranford Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.7% | 14.3% |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Cranford Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,184 in 1880, 23,847 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cranford Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw20 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw16 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw18 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw20 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw16 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 Cranford 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 Cranford Township.
Cranford Township trades workers with New York City and other neighbors and is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s; it also has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey.
Cranford Township’s density of trails is 1.5 miles per square mile. Count the trails in 12 parks and preserves and they come to 7.2 miles. The biggest place to walk is Nomahegan Park, 136 acres with 1.5 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Nomahegan Park | 1.5 mi | 136 |
| 2. Unami Park | 0.1 mi | 10 |
| 3. Sherman Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− for schools comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $774K.
Its public schools are run by the Cranford Public School District. Three of its 11 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. 5 public schools serve Cranford Township, with 1,907 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orange Avenue SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 3–8 | Grades 3–8 | 750 | A− |
| Cranford High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,116 | A |
| Brookside Place SchoolTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 364 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 6.7% of its 18,263 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide.
The share of adults in Cranford Township who report frequent physical distress: 9.9%. The town beats the New Jersey average on 21 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. In Cranford Township, 13% of adults report frequent mental distress, and 16% get no exercise outside work.
| Cranford Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 28% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 22% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.9% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cranford Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.7% | 14.3% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 4.5% | 9.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.1% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 8.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 66% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 241 to 134 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
For Cranford Township, the property offense rate is 5.1 per 1,000 residents. The violent offense rate locally is 0.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Cranford Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.4 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
At 7.8 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $774K) costs more against local pay than in 78% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
The typical Cranford Township home is worth about $774,000, up 6.9% in a year, 35% above the New Jersey typical home. Its typical rent comes in at $2,199 a month. 78% of Cranford Township households live in a home they own.
| Cranford Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,199 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 78% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
A winter brings about 26 inches of snow, with January nights at 23° and July afternoons at 87°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Cranford Township has about as many jobs (11,677) as working residents, but only 971 people both live and work here. 27% of workers work from home, against 16.8% across New Jersey.
Just 8% of Cranford Township’s working residents have a job in town. Since 2013, Cranford Township has lost 1,388 jobs, to 11,677 in 2023. Also worth knowing: 27% of workers work remotely from home locally. The top destinations are New York (14%), Newark (4%) and Elizabeth (4%).
| Cranford Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 27% | 16% | 11% |
| Median household income | $156,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 35 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 2.5% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
1,484 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 292 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1978, Cranford Township has seen 1,484 flood insurance claims paid out. Compared with 54% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage locally is higher. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 73% come from inland flooding and 11% from earthquakes. Households locally 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
30 within 15 miles of the center of Cranford Township
About 5 of every 100 Cranford Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
2 places in Cranford Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
Township in Union County, New Jersey, US
Cranford is a township in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located 18 miles (29 km) southwest of New York City. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,847, an increase of 1,222 (+5.4%) from the 2010 census count of 22,625, which in turn reflected an increase of 47 (+0.2%) from the 22,578 counted in the 2000 census. NJ Transit rail service is available at the Cranford station, along the Raritan Valley Line, with service to Newark Penn Station and to New York Penn Station in via Midtown Direct. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. Cranford was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 14, 1871, from portio…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Cranford Township.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cranford Township | #55 | A | D | A− | A− | A+ |
| Kenilworth | #235 | B | D− | A− | C+ | B+ |
| Garwood | #135 | A− | D | A | B | A |
| Westfield | #14 | A+ | D | A | A | A+ |
| Linden | #360 | C | D | — | C− | B |
| Clark Township | #189 | B+ | D | C+ | B+ | A |
| Roselle | #355 | C | C− | B− | D | B− |
| Winfield Township | — | — | B− | B | D | 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 Cranford Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Cranford Township grades A overall, better than 94% of U.S. towns and #55 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A+ for health, A− 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.
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