Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 8,346 residents, this town was settled in 1798.
Trash & recyclingFairfield Township’s strongest subject is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 95% of the country. The town’s overall grade of B+ puts it better than 66% of U.S. towns, 216th of 466 in New Jersey. What counts against it is cost of living (D−): the typical home is worth about $818K, 8.3 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B− for safety and B− for hazard risk. This New Jersey town has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Fairfield Dutch Reformed Church and Van Ness House. Fairfield Township’s median rent is $2,656 a month, above both New Jersey’s towns ($1,778 a month) and U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Fairfield Township is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 89% of U.S. towns. 35% of the land locally is conserved, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 11% and U.S. towns at 4.3%.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FBI crime data, 2025 · FEMA National Risk Index · National Register of Historic Places · USGS PAD-US.
Where Fairfield Township beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,235 in 1810, a low of 704 in 1910, 7,872 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1740 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Fairfield Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fairfield Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw19 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw19 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw13 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw19 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw19 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw19 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 Fairfield 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 Fairfield Township.
Fairfield Township draws workers from Paterson and beyond, keeps more of its land conserved than most of New Jersey and is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s.
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 8% of its 6,179 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide.
In Fairfield Township, just over one in ten adults report frequent physical distress. Of 32 CDC measures, Fairfield Township beats the New Jersey average on 15 and trails it on 1. 28% of adults locally have high blood pressure; 32% sleep under 7 hours.
| Fairfield Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 28% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 36% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 15% | 17% |
| What stands out | Fairfield Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8% | 14.3% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7.4% | 12.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.9% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The public schools here belong to the Fairfield Public School District. Below: Two of its 10 schools, each with why it was picked. The 5 public schools in Fairfield Township teach 799 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winston S. Churchill SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–6 | Grades 3–6 | 401 | B |
| Essex Campus AcademyLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 37 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
22,457 jobs are based in Fairfield Township, 5.2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 21.5 minutes, against 30.5 across New Jersey.
Just just over a tenth of Fairfield Township’s working residents have a job in town. Jobs based in Fairfield Township grew to 22,457 in 2023, 2,044 more than in 2013. The town’s typical household income stands at $116,000. The top destinations are New York (12%), Newark (4%) and Parsippany-Troy Hills Township (3%).
| Fairfield Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $116,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 11% | 17% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 11% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its 2,276 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 90% of New Jersey towns.
Trails run 6.8 miles in 5 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is West Essex Park, at 159 acres. Parks and preserves in Fairfield Township: 5, covering 183 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. West Essex Park | 0.1 mi | 159 |
| 2. Great Piece Meadows Preserve | — | 12 |
| 3. Mita Park | 0.2 mi | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 8.3 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $818K) costs more against local pay than in 81% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to that grade. 90.5% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 51.6% across New Jersey.
In the year to September 2026, typical home values climbed 5.9%. Nearly four fifths of Fairfield Township households are owner-occupiers.
| Fairfield Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,656 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 79% | 77% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
51% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 44% across New Jersey. People 65 and older are 29% of residents (17% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 14% of residents (21% statewide). Fairfield Township is growing: up 5.8% since 2020, to 8,346 residents (2025 estimate). Its median age stands at 49.9 years.
| Fairfield Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 49.9 years | 42 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 51% | 45% | 29% |
57% women, 43% men
About 76 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±3.7 points). Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women.
| Fairfield Township | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.1% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.5% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.6% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.8% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.2% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.9% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.4% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 15.4% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.7% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 22.3% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 15% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 29.2% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 21.7% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 21° and about 24 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 17.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 65% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 192 to 126 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Fairfield Township’s property crime rate is 14.7 per 1,000 residents. The violent offense rate for Fairfield Township comes to 0.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Fairfield Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 14.7 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.5 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Households in Fairfield Township have drawn federal disaster aid in 6 declared disasters, most recently in 2021. Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in just over half of U.S. communities. Also worth knowing: since 1978, Fairfield Township has seen 1,821 flood insurance claims paid out.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
27 within 15 miles of the center of Fairfield Township
About 6 of every 100 Fairfield Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
Where Fairfield Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
2 places in Fairfield Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
Township in Essex County, New Jersey, US
Fairfield is a township in far northwestern Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 7,872, an increase of 406 (+5.4%) from the 2010 census count of 7,466, which in turn reflected an increase of 403 (+5.7%) from the 7,063 counted in the 2000 census. Fairfield was the least densely populated town in Essex County in 2020. The first Europeans to settle in the area were Dutch and the place was called Gansegat. Later it was part of Horse Neck and officially part of Newark Township. What is now Fairfield was formed on February 16, 1798, as Caldwell Township from portions of Acquackanonk Township and Newark Township. The area…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Fairfield Township.
All 5 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its B+; Wayne Township (B+) is closest.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield Township | #216 | B+ | D− | B− | A− | A+ |
| Montville Township | #112 | A | D | — | A | A+ |
| Lincoln Park | #119 | A | D | A | A− | A |
| Pine Brook | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Towaco | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wayne Township | #214 | B+ | D− | C+ | B+ | A+ |
| North Caldwell | #108 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| West Caldwell Township | #69 | A | D | A− | A− | A+ |
Montville Township and North Caldwell report no FBI crime data of their own. Pine Brook and Towaco aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Fairfield Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Fairfield Township grades B+ overall, better than 66% of U.S. towns and #216 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−.
2 notable people were born here, including David Greczek and Richard Zirk.
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