Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 9,257, settled in 1863.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Cresskill grades A overall, ranked 86th of 466 in New Jersey. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 97% of the country and the median household earns $170K. The trade-off is money: the typical home is worth about $1.0 million, 10.4 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Cresskill’s typical rent is $2,599 a month, against $1,778 a month in New Jersey’s towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. Cresskill is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 96% of U.S. towns. Cresskill has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Blackledge-Gair House and Peter Huyler House.
Where Cresskill beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Edward H. Bryan | PK–5 | 555 |
| Merritt Memorial | 1–5 | 282 |
| Cresskill Middle School | 6–8 | 421 |
Where Cresskill’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 Cresskill is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for health (better than 97% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 3%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 333 in 1880, 9,155 in 2020. The archive holds 14 old photos and papers going back to 1913 and 4 maps from 1897 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cresskill. Close and well known come first.
Big draw11 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw13 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw11 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw11 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaYankee Stadium
Big draw12 mi TheatreStudio 54Central 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 · Yankee Stadium: Matt Boulton, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cresskill, 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 Cresskill.
Cresskill has less utility shut-off threats than most of New Jersey and pairs an A for schools with high home prices, 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.
The typical Cresskill home is worth about $1,031,000, up 6% in a year, 79% above the New Jersey typical home. A home in Cresskill typically sold within 56 days of listing. Three fifths of the homes sold in Cresskill went for more than their asking price.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its A for schools comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.03M.
Three of its 4 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. Public schools: the Cresskill Public School District. The largest public high school is Cresskill High School, with 489 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edward H. BryanLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 555 | A |
| Cresskill High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 489 | A |
| Cresskill Middle SchoolTop results in townGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 421 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New Jersey is utility shut-off threats: 3.6% of its 6,768 adults were threatened with a utility shut-off, against 7% statewide. Against the 1,664 U.S. towns with household incomes like Cresskill’s, it is healthier than 80%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
22% of adults in Cresskill have obesity; 12% report frequent mental distress. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Cresskill is ahead of New Jersey on 19 and behind on 2. For adults here, the share who have been diagnosed with depression is 13%.
| Cresskill | 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% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.2% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cresskill | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 3.6% | 7% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6% | 11.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.7% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based here fell from 3,479 in 2013 to 1,695.
Jobs based in Cresskill fell to 1,695 in 2023, 1,784 fewer than in 2013. Most working residents leave Cresskill for work: only 3% work in town. The town’s typical journey to work stands at 37 minutes. The top destinations are New York (31%), Englewood (4%) and Tenafly (2%).
| Cresskill | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $170,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 37 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 20% | 16% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 3.3% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
A winter brings about 33 inches of snow, with January nights at 24° and July afternoons at 86°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Since 1979, Cresskill has seen 74 flood insurance claims paid out. FEMA expects less storm and flood damage locally than in 61% of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Cresskill after 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2021. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 77% come from inland flooding and 6% from hurricanes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Cresskill’s property offense rate comes in at 1.8 per 1,000 residents. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. No violent crimes were reported in 2025.
| Cresskill | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.8 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
The biggest park or preserve is Roosevelt Common, at 20 acres. Across 4 parks and preserves: 0.9 miles of trail. In Cresskill, the trail density is 0.4 miles per square mile.
| Cresskill | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 8.2% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Roosevelt Common | 0.6 mi | 20 |
| 2. E. Leonard Carlson Park | 0.1 mi | 6 |
| 3. Cranford Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
93 within 15 miles of the center of Cresskill
About 4 of every 100 Cresskill residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
4 places in Cresskill on the National Register of Historic Places.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Cresskill 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 9,155, an increase of 582 (+6.8%) from the 2010 census count of 8,573, which in turn reflected an increase of 827 (+10.7%) from the 7,746 counted in the 2000 census. This borough got its name from "Cress", referring to the watercress that grew in its streams, and "Kill", referring to the stream passing through.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Cresskill.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cresskill | #86 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Demarest | #123 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Tenafly | #46 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Dumont | #35 | A+ | D | A | A− | A |
| Alpine | — | — | D− | B+ | A+ | A+ |
| Bergenfield | #109 | A | D | A+ | B | A |
Alpine has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Cresskill, Demarest and Tenafly report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Cresskill with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Cresskill grades A overall, better than 90% of U.S. towns and #86 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A+ for health 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−.
2 notable people were born here, including Gary Wright and Betsy Markey.
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