Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,346, incorporated in 1895.
Because it does well by almost any measure. Mountainside earns an A+, 5th of 466 graded towns in New Jersey. On CDC health estimates it is near the top nationally, the median household earns $212K, and its schools outperform 96% of the state's. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.1 million, 10.6 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Mountainside’s median rent is $3,501 a month, where New Jersey’s towns sit at $1,778 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. On the outdoors, just 2 of New Jersey’s 530 towns do better. Crime is low: it reports less per resident than 94% of U.S. towns.
Where Mountainside beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Mountainside | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 2.9% | 9.6% |
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Beechwood School | PK–2 | 265 |
| Primrose School at Mountainside | PK–K | 10 |
| Deerfield Elementary School | 3–8 | 483 |
Where Mountainside’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 Mountainside is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 367 in 1900, 7,020 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1975 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mountainside. Close and well known come first.
Big draw20 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw22 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw21 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw22 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw18 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 Mountainside, 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 Mountainside.
Mountainside has schools in the top 5% of New Jersey, draws workers from Newark and beyond and reports less crime than Berkeley Heights Township or any other graded neighbor.
At 10.6 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $1.05M) costs more against local pay than in 91% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to its D− for cost of living. 81.6% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 51.6% across New Jersey.
The typical Mountainside home is worth about $1,050,000, up 3.8% in a year, 83% above the New Jersey typical home. 88% of households own their home in Mountainside.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its A+ ranks #7 of the 465 New Jersey towns we grade for schools. Its A+ is the best School Grade on its borders; Summit (A) is next.
Its public schools are run by the Mountainside School District. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deerfield Elementary SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 3–8 | Grades 3–8 | 483 | A |
| Kohler Academy PrivateLargest high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 46 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests
Its 974 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 93% of New Jersey towns. Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #1 of 468 in New Jersey.
The trail density in Mountainside is 3.9 miles per square mile. Watchung Reservation, at 792 acres with 13.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. 16 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Watchung Reservation | 13.9 mi | 792 |
| 2. Boy Scout Camping Area, Watchung Reservation | 0.2 mi | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its widest gap with New Jersey is tooth loss: 2.9% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 9.6% statewide. Against the 847 U.S. towns with household incomes like Mountainside’s, it is healthier than 76%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Mountainside beats the New Jersey average on 19 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 12% of Mountainside adults report frequent mental distress.
| Mountainside | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 17% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 28% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 23% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.2% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Mountainside | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 2.9% | 9.6% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6% | 14.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.5% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its A tops all 3 graded towns on its borders; Berkeley Heights Township (A) comes closest. Reported crimes rose from 17 to 38 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Mountainside’s violent crime rate is 0.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Mountainside | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.1 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
5,124 jobs are based in Mountainside, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. 25.1% of workers work from home, against 16.8% across New Jersey.
Most working residents leave Mountainside for work: only 5% work in town. The top destinations are New York (16%), Newark (5%) and Elizabeth (3%). Half commute less than 12 miles.
| Mountainside | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $212,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 36 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 3.7% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.2% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Mountainside has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 23° and about 24 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 63% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 15 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Mountainside.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
26 within 15 miles of the center of Mountainside
About 4 of every 100 Mountainside residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
5 notable people were born in Mountainside.
Borough in Union County, New Jersey, US
Mountainside is a borough in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is located on a ridge in northern-central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,020, an increase of 335 (+5.0%) from the 2010 census count of 6,685, which in turn reflected an increase of 83 (+1.3%) from the 6,602 counted in the 2000 census. Mountainside was incorporated as a borough on September 25, 1895, from portions of Westfield Township, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day. New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Mountainside as its 16th best place to liv…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Mountainside.
At #5 in NJ, it grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Westfield (A+) comes closest.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountainside | #5 | A+ | D− | A | A+ | A+ |
| Berkeley Heights Township | #38 | A+ | D | A | A− | A+ |
| Westfield | #14 | A+ | D | A | A | A+ |
| Summit | #51 | A | D | A− | A | A+ |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Mountainside grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #5 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. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
Mountainside was incorporated in 1895 and has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 5 notable people were born here, including Laurie Collyer and Dale Torborg.
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