Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Mahwah Township grades A overall, better than 87% of U.S. towns. It ranks 116th of 466 in New Jersey. Health is its strong suit (A+): it is healthier than 97% of U.S. towns. The drawback is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $714K, 7.2 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. 45% of the land here is conserved, above both New Jersey’s towns (11%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). The biggest place to walk is Ramapo Valley County Reservation, 4,203 acres with 35.9 miles of trail. The town is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 92% of U.S. towns. The median household earns $131K.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · USGS PAD-US · OpenStreetMap.
Where Mahwah Township beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,274 in 1850, a low of 1,881 in 1910, 25,487 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1907 and 5 maps from 1910 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Mahwah Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mahwah Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw24 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw19 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw24 mi MuseumUnited States Military Academy
Big draw24 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw24 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a yearCentral 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 · United States Military Academy: USMA Public Affairs Office, Public domain · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mahwah 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 Mahwah Township.
Mahwah Township keeps more of its land conserved than most of New Jersey, trades workers with New York City and other neighbors and has less food insecurity than most of New Jersey.
Its 7,433 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 97% of New Jersey towns.
Walkers can cover 76 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. In Mahwah Township, the concentration of trails is 3.0 miles per square mile. Parks and preserves locally: 6, covering 7,347 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ramapo Valley County Reservation | 35.9 mi | 4,203 |
| 2. Campgaw Mountain Reservation | 16.1 mi | 1,012 |
| 3. Ramapo Mountain State Forest | 7.9 mi | 1,080 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− for schools comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $714K.
Three of its 8 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. The public schools here belong to the Mahwah Township Public School District. 4 public schools serve Mahwah Township, with 1,227 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ramapo RidgeLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 642 | A− |
| Mahwah High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 829 | A− |
| Betsy Ross ElementaryTop results in townGrades K–3 | Grades K–3 | 238 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 7.7% of its 21,363 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide.
In Mahwah Township, 31% of adults have high blood pressure. The town does better than the New Jersey average on 17 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 1. 7.4% of adults in Mahwah Township smoke cigarettes; 9.8% report frequent physical distress.
| Mahwah Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 28% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.4% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.8% | 12% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 7.9% | 9.7% | 12% |
| What stands out | Mahwah Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.7% | 14.3% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.3% | 9.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.8% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The share of households in Mahwah Township who own their home: 81%. Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 5.5% in value. The town’s rent at the middle of the market is $2,204 a month.
| Mahwah Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,204 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 81% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
In July, afternoons reach 85°; in January, nights fall to 21°, and about 36 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
186 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 23 properties have flooded more than once.
Mahwah Township has had 186 paid flood insurance claims since 1979. Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in nearly two thirds of U.S. communities. 78% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by earthquakes at 7%.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Mahwah Township has about as many jobs (14,578) as working residents, but only 944 people both live and work here. 26.3% of workers work from home, against 16.8% across New Jersey.
Most people who work leave Mahwah Township to do it: just 8% work in town. Mahwah Township: just over a quarter of workers do their job from home. The top destinations are New York (16%), Ramsey (5%) and Paramus (4%). The average commute for Mahwah Township comes to 28 minutes.
| Mahwah Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 26% | 16% | 11% |
| Median household income | $131,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 2.1% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. Mahwah Township's reported crime rate is well below New Jersey's. For Mahwah Township, the level of property crime is 4.3 per 1,000 residents. 16 violent crimes were reported in 2024.
| Mahwah Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 4.3 per 1,000 residents | 8.9 | 11.5 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.7 |
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
22 within 15 miles of the center of Mahwah Township
About 13 of every 100 Mahwah Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
45.1% of the town is conserved land, across 6 parks and preserves.
10 places in Mahwah Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Mahwah Township.
Township in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Mahwah is the northernmost and largest municipality by geographic area (26.19 square miles (67.8 km2)) in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 25,487, a decrease of 403 (−1.6%) from the 2010 census count of 25,890, which in turn reflected an increase of 1,828 (+7.6%) from the 24,062 counted in the 2000 census. The name "Mahwah" is derived from the Lenape language word "mawewi" which means "Meeting Place" or "Place Where Paths Meet". The area that is now Mahwah was originally formed as Hohokus Township on April 9, 1849, from portions of the former Franklin Township (now Wyckoff). While known as Hohokus Township, te…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Mahwah Township.
All 6 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its A; Upper Saddle River (A) is closest.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahwah Township | #116 | A | D− | — | A− | A+ |
| Ramsey | #57 | A | D− | B+ | A− | A+ |
| Allendale | #3 | A+ | D− | A | A+ | A+ |
| Franklin Lakes | #21 | A+ | D− | A | A− | A+ |
| Wyckoff Township | #74 | A | D− | — | A− | A+ |
| Upper Saddle River | #79 | A | D− | — | A+ | A+ |
| Oakland | #26 | A+ | C | A | A− | A+ |
Mahwah Township, Wyckoff Township and Upper Saddle River report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Mahwah Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Mahwah Township grades A overall, better than 87% of U.S. towns and #116 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−.
7 notable people were born here, including Kevin Haslam and Patrick Murray.
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