Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 10,214, settled in 1870.
Because it does well by almost any measure. Hillsdale earns an A+, 8th among New Jersey's 466 graded towns. The median household earns $187K, CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 97% of the country, and it reports less crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $856K, 8.6 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Hillsdale’s middle household income is $187,000, against $113,000 in New Jersey’s towns and $80,000 across U.S. towns. Hillsdale is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 93% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Wood Dale County Park, at 53 acres.
Where Hillsdale beats most towns.
Where Hillsdale’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 Hillsdale is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for jobs and income (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 12%), so the A+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 891 in 1900, 10,143 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1899 and 4 maps from 1934 on.
8 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Hillsdale. Close and well known come first.
Big draw16 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw17 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw16 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaYankee StadiumCentral 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 · 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 Hillsdale, 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 Hillsdale.
Hillsdale has less food insecurity than most of New Jersey, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey and has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 7.3% of its 7,819 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide. Against the 1,209 U.S. towns with household incomes like Hillsdale’s, it is healthier than 71%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Among adults in Hillsdale, 7.9% smoke cigarettes. Against the New Jersey average, Hillsdale comes out ahead on 15 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 1.
| Hillsdale | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 28% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.9% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 12% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 16% | 23% |
| What stands out | Hillsdale | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.3% | 14.3% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5% | 9.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.8% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its A− for schools comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $856K.
The public schools here belong to the Hillsdale School District. The largest public high school is Pascack Valley High School, with 928 students. Of its 5 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| George G WhiteLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 490 | A− |
| Pascack Valley High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 928 | A− |
| MeadowbrookTop results in townGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 318 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025, 0.2 per 1,000 residents.
In Hillsdale, the violent offense rate is 0.2 per 1,000 residents. Its property offense rate is 1.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Hillsdale | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.7 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
At 8.6 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $856K) costs more against local pay than in 83% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
Homes in the town are typically worth about $856,000, up 9.6% in a year, 49% above the New Jersey typical home. In Hillsdale, the median rent is $1,764 a month. 88% of the homes sold in Hillsdale went for more than their asking price.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The mean commuting time for Hillsdale comes to 28 minutes. Commuting out is the norm in the town: 5% of working residents work locally. 2.2% of residents live below the poverty line locally. The median commute is under 12 miles.
| Hillsdale | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 2.2% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.9% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Walkers can cover 1.8 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. Parks and preserves in Hillsdale: 5, covering 87 acres. For Hillsdale, the trail density is 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Hillsdale | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7.5% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wood Dale County Park | 0.8 mi | 53 |
| 2. Beechwood Park | — | 22 |
| 3. Centennial Field | 0.2 mi | 10 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expect July afternoons of 86° and January nights of 22°, with about 33 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
341 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 51 properties have flooded more than once.
341 flood insurance claims have been paid in Hillsdale since 1979. FEMA expects less storm and flood damage in the town than in 54% of U.S. communities. Federal aid has come to Hillsdale households in 11 declared disasters; the latest was in 2021. 73% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by earthquakes at 10%.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
57 within 15 miles of the center of Hillsdale
About 6 of every 100 Hillsdale residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
8 places in Hillsdale on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Hillsdale.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Hillsdale is a borough in the northern portion of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 10,143, a decrease of 76 (−0.7%) from the 2010 census count of 10,219, which in turn reflected an increase of 132 (+1.3%) from the 10,087 counted in the 2000 census. The populated area today known as Hillsdale took form in the mid-to-late 19th century as land speculators, led by David P. Patterson, developed subdivisions to profit from the coming of the Hackensack and New York Railroad (later New Jersey and New York Railroad). The area was incorporated as Hillsdale Township on March 25,…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Hillsdale.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsdale | #8 | A+ | D | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Westwood | #40 | A+ | D | A | A− | A+ |
| River Vale Township | #6 | A+ | C− | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Washington Township | #82 | A | D | — | A− | A+ |
| Woodcliff Lake | #24 | A+ | D | A | A | A+ |
| Park Ridge | #18 | A+ | D− | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Saddle River | #145 | A− | D− | A− | A+ | A+ |
Washington Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Hillsdale with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Hillsdale grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #8 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, by national standards. Hillsdale reports less crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns, an A+ Safety Grade: 2 violent and 18 property crimes in 2025.
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.
5 notable people were born here, including Kathleen Noone and Jean Carol.
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