Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 8,259 residents, this town was settled in 1883.
Glen Ridge’s strongest is health (A+). The town’s overall grade is A, better than 92% of U.S. towns. In the ranking it comes 70th of 466 in New Jersey. It also does well on schools (A): its schools outperform 90% of the state's. The catch is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.2 million, 11.7 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. On civic life, just 10 of New Jersey’s 527 towns do better. Just over four in five adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more here, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 45% and U.S. towns at 29%. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 92% of U.S. towns, with 3 places on the National Register.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24.
Where Glen Ridge beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Glen Ridge | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 3.4% | 9.6% |
Where Glen Ridge’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 Glen Ridge is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
![54280.BB#001--Proposed siding to serve the Bergen Corporation--Glen Ridge, NJ [1913.09.07]](https://images.townratings.com/story/10978/c3ccdc5611870933b4b9-l.jpg)
Census counts: 1,960 in 1900, 7,802 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1913 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Glen Ridge. Close and well known come first.
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw7 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw13 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw12 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw13 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw12 mi MuseumNational September 11 Memorial & MuseumMadison Square Garden: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 · MetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Central Park: Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 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 Glen Ridge, 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 Glen Ridge.
Glen Ridge sends many workers across the state line, has less tooth loss than most of New Jersey and is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s.
At 11.7 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $1.16M) costs more against local pay than in 94% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
A home in Glen Ridge typically sold within 16 days of listing. Home values are up 8.1% over the year to September 2026. The town’s midpoint rent is $2,728 a month.
| Glen Ridge | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,728 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 91% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
That grade comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.16M.
The largest public high school is Glen Ridge High School, with 799 students. Below: Two of its 5 schools, each with why it was picked. The public schools here belong to the Glen Ridge Public School District.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ridgewood Avenue SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–6 | Grades 3–6 | 540 | A |
| Glen Ridge High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 799 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New Jersey is tooth loss: 3.4% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 9.6% statewide.
In Glen Ridge, nearly one in ten adults say their health is fair or poor. Among 468 New Jersey towns, just one has a lower share of adults who have diabetes than Glen Ridge. CDC measures, 32 in all: Glen Ridge beats New Jersey on 23 and trails on 1.
| Glen Ridge | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 32% | 35% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 28% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 8.4% | 12% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 17% |
| What stands out | Glen Ridge | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 3.4% | 9.6% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.4% | 14.3% |
| More binge drinkers | 18.8% | 15.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
26% of working residents cross a state line to work. 34.3% of workers work from home, against 16.8% across New Jersey.
2.2% of Glen Ridge working residents work locally. For half of commuters, work is under 17 miles away. The average trip to work for Glen Ridge comes to 36 minutes. The top destinations are New York (35%), Newark (5%) and Jersey City (4%).
| Glen Ridge | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $250,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 36 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 1.1% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.2% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Glen Ridge brings chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Summer afternoons peak near 86° in July, and January nights bottom out around 23°; snowfall runs to about 24 inches a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in two thirds of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 22 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Glen Ridge. 73% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by heat waves at 8%.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 14.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 57% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 146 to 85 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The level of violent crime in Glen Ridge is 0.7 per 1,000 residents. The property crime rate here is 9.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Glen Ridge | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.7 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.5 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Count the trails in 4 parks and preserves and they come to 0.5 miles. For Glen Ridge, the trail network density is 0.4 miles per square mile.
| Glen Ridge | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 3.6% | 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. The Glen | 0.4 mi | 8 |
| 2. Carteret Park | 0.1 mi | 5 |
| 3. Hurrell Field | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
92 within 15 miles of the center of Glen Ridge
About 8 of every 100 Glen Ridge residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
36 notable people were born in Glen Ridge.
Borough in Essex County, New Jersey, US
Glen Ridge is a borough in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,802, an increase of 275 (+3.7%) from the 2010 census count of 7,527, which in turn reflected an increase of 256 (+3.5%) from the 7,271 counted in the 2000 census. The borough is one of a few in New Jersey preserving the use of gas lamps for street lighting.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Glen Ridge.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Ridge | #70 | A | D | B | A | A+ |
| Bloomfield Township | #259 | B | D | B− | B− | A |
| Montclair Township | #126 | A | D− | B+ | B+ | A+ |
| Watsessing | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Brookdale | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Watsessing and Brookdale aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Glen Ridge with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Glen Ridge grades A overall, better than 92% of U.S. towns and #70 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.
36 notable people were born here, including Cindy Sherman and Henry Selick.
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