Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The weak point is cost of living — the typical home is worth about $633K, 6.4 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Its strongest is walkability: it is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns. All told, that adds up to a C overall, better than 27% of U.S. towns. It ranks 368th of 466 in New Jersey. Elmwood Park's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 95% of U.S. towns. Only 49 of New Jersey’s 530 towns score lower on history. The town’s median rent is $2,074 a month, where New Jersey’s towns sit at $1,778 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. Elmwood Park’s property crime rate is 18.7 per 1,000 residents, above both New Jersey’s towns (7.4) and U.S. towns (9.9).
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places · FBI crime data, 2025.
Where Elmwood Park beats most towns.
19,403 counted in 2010 and 21,422 in 2020; an estimated 21,534 in 2025.
Growth has leveled off: within 1% of 2020, after 10.4% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Elmwood Park is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 3%), so the C overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 892 in 1900, 21,422 in 2020. The archive holds 13 old photos and papers going back to 1909 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Elmwood Park. Close and well known come first.
Big draw7 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw12 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw13 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw12 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw12 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw11 mi Stadium & arenaYankee StadiumMetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Central 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 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Yankee Stadium: Matt Boulton, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Elmwood 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 Elmwood Park.
Elmwood Park is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s and is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in New Jersey; it also has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 66% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
Elmwood Park: 11% of adults smoke cigarettes. 16% of adults locally have been diagnosed with depression; 35% feel lonely.
| Elmwood Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 36% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 16% | 23% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The largest public high school is Memorial Senior High School, with 823 students. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Its public schools are run by the Elmwood Park School District.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memorial Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 569 | C |
| Memorial Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 823 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
At 28.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 83% of New Jersey’s graded towns.
Elmwood Park’s violent crime rate stands at 2.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Elmwood Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 18.7 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.2 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
A winter brings about 28 inches of snow, with January nights at 23° and July afternoons at 87°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Only 6% of working residents stay in Elmwood Park for work; the rest commute out. The share of residents in Elmwood Park who live below the poverty line: 12%. The top destinations are New York (13%), Paterson (4%) and Paramus (4%). The average trip to work in the town is 27 minutes.
| Elmwood Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 8.5% | 17% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $102,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
80 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 10 properties have flooded more than once.
Federal disaster aid has reached households in Elmwood Park after 11 declared disasters, most recently in 2021. Compared with three fifths of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage locally is lower. Since 1978, 80 flood insurance claims have been paid out here. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 67% come from inland flooding and 10% from earthquakes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The age mix tracks New Jersey closely: no broad group is more than 4 points off. A bachelor’s degree or higher: 35% of adults 25 and older, vs 44% across New Jersey. For residents in Elmwood Park, the share who are under 18 is 20%.
| Elmwood Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 35% | 45% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 21% | 22% |
| Median age | 39.9 years | 42 years | 40.5 years |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.6 points. Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women. Median age: women 41.9, men 37.3.
| Elmwood Park | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.4% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.2% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.6% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 16.2% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.8% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.1% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.4% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.5% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.4% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.8% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 15.4% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.4% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22.6% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.5% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
In Elmwood Park, 58% of households live in a home they own. Homes locally are typically worth about $633,000, up 4.2% in a year, 10% above the New Jersey typical home.
| Elmwood Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 58% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $2,074 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Count the trails in 3 parks and preserves and they come to 0.3 miles. For Elmwood Park, the concentration of trails is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Elmwood Park | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Elmwood Park | — | 2 |
| 2. Elmwood Park Marina | — | 1 |
| 3. Rosemont Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
97 within 15 miles of the center of Elmwood Park
About 4 of every 100 Elmwood Park residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
4 notable people were born in Elmwood Park.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Elmwood Park is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and is a bedroom suburb located 14 miles (23 km) from New York City. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 21,422, an increase of 2,019 (+10.4%) from the 2010 census count of 19,403, which in turn reflected an increase of 478 (+2.5%) from the 18,925 counted in the 2000 census. Prior to 1916, the area was known as Dundee Lake, a section of Saddle River Township. Residents of the Dundee Lake area voted on April 18, 1916, to secede from Saddle River Township to form the Borough of East Paterson.} In 1917, residents of the Rosemont section of Saddle River Township voted to be annexed to East…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Elmwood Park.
Paterson next door grades lower for schools (D to Elmwood Park’s C) and higher for cost of living (C− to D−).
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elmwood Park | #368 | C | D− | C | C | A− |
| Paterson | #460 | D− | C− | D | D | D |
| Fair Lawn | #98 | A | D | — | A | A+ |
| Garfield | #382 | C− | D− | C+ | C+ | B− |
Fair Lawn reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Elmwood Park with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Elmwood Park grades C overall, better than 27% of U.S. towns and #368 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A− for health, C 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−.
4 notable people were born here, including Carmen Carrera and Cornelius A. Cadmus.
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