Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Montvale grades A overall, 78th of 466 graded towns in New Jersey. It is healthier than 98% of U.S. towns. The median household earns $178K and its public schools beat 80% of New Jersey towns on state tests and graduation. The trade-off is money: the typical home is worth about $933K, 9.4 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Montvale’s median household income is $178,000, where New Jersey’s towns sit at $113,000 and U.S. towns at $80,000. Montvale is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns. Only 32 of New Jersey’s 530 towns score lower on the outdoors.
Where Montvale beats most towns.
Where Montvale’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 Montvale is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 416 in 1900, 8,436 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 2008 and 5 maps from 1910 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Montvale. Close and well known come first.
Big draw19 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw21 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw17 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw24 mi MuseumUnited States Military Academy
Big draw20 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw20 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 Montvale, 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 Montvale.
Montvale carries less natural-hazard risk than most of New Jersey (mostly inland flooding) and draws workers from Ramapo and beyond, but it reports more crime than Woodcliff Lake and its other graded neighbors.
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 7.5% of its 6,492 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide. Against the 1,417 U.S. towns with household incomes like Montvale’s, it is healthier than 79%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
24% of adults have obesity in Montvale. Montvale beats the New Jersey average on 16 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 15% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Montvale.
| Montvale | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 28% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.9% | 12% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.8% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Montvale | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.5% | 14.3% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.2% | 9.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9% | 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 $933K.
Its public schools are run by the Montvale Board of Education School District. Three of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Pascack Hills High School, with 768 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memorial Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 532 | B+ |
| Pascack Hills High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 768 | A |
| Fieldstone Middle SchoolTop results in townGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 443 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
At 9.4 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $933K) costs more against local pay than in 86% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living.
Montvale’s median rent is $2,053 a month. Typical home values rose 6.5% in the year to September 2026.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
10,238 jobs are based in Montvale, 2.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. 25% of working residents cross a state line to work, Orangetown among the top destinations.
Most working residents leave Montvale for work: only 9% work in town. The average trip to work in Montvale is 32 minutes. The top destinations are New York (20%), Paramus (5%) and Hackensack (2%).
| Montvale | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 8.9% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 90% of New Jersey towns, with expected losses of about $254 per resident a year; that rating is what its A− for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1979, 10 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Montvale.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Montvale is safe by national standards, yet each of the 3 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Woodcliff Lake (A) to Park Ridge (A+). At 11.2 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 55% of New Jersey’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Montvale has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 21° and about 33 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
37 within 15 miles of the center of Montvale
About 4 of every 100 Montvale residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
3 places in Montvale on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Montvale.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Montvale is a borough in northern Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, bordering the state of New York. The borough is part of the New York City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 8,436, an increase of 592 (+7.5%) from the 2010 census count of 7,844, which in turn reflected an increase of 810 (+11.5%) from the 7,034 counted in the 2000 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Montvale.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montvale | #78 | A | D | B+ | A− | A+ |
| River Vale Township | #6 | A+ | C− | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Upper Saddle River | #79 | A | D− | — | A+ | A+ |
| Park Ridge | #18 | A+ | D− | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Woodcliff Lake | #24 | A+ | D | A | A | A+ |
Upper Saddle River reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Montvale with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Montvale grades A overall, better than 91% of U.S. towns and #78 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.
4 notable people were born here, including Alecko Eskandarian and Shaun Weiss.
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