Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 16,601, settled in 1896.
For most people who can afford it, yes. North Arlington grades B overall, 223rd of 466 graded towns in New Jersey. Few places in the country are easier to get around without a car. It is healthier than 89% of U.S. towns and the median household earns $94K. The catch is cost: the typical home is worth about $630K, 6.4 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. North Arlington’s density of trails is 1.6 miles per square mile, against 0.7 in New Jersey’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. North Arlington's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 87% of U.S. towns. The biggest place to walk is 1-E Landfill, 238 acres with 1.9 miles of trail.
Where North Arlington beats most towns.
| Widest gap | North Arlington | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.8% | 14.3% |
Where North Arlington’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 North Arlington is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 8%), so the B overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 290 in 1900, 16,457 in 2020. The archive holds 7 old photos and papers going back to 2008 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around North Arlington. Close and well known come first.
Big draw3 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw7 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw8 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw8 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw9 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw8 mi MuseumNational September 11 Memorial & MuseumMetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Madison 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 · 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 North Arlington, 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 North Arlington.
North Arlington has better schools than Lyndhurst Township or any other neighbor, is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in New Jersey.
There are 4.1 miles of trail across 7 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. 1-E Landfill | 1.9 mi | 238 |
| 2. Riverside County Park South | 0.7 mi | 30 |
| 3. Allan Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its B is the best School Grade on its borders; Lyndhurst Township (C+) is next.
Two of its 7 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. Public schools: the North Arlington School District. Also worth knowing: 5 public schools serve North Arlington, with 1,354 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veterans Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 426 | B |
| North Arlington High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 634 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Within New Jersey it is healthier than 54% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
The share of adults in North Arlington who smoke cigarettes: 9.6%. 27% of North Arlington adults have obesity, close to New Jersey’s towns (28%) and below U.S. towns (35%).
| North Arlington | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 28% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 36% | 36% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | North Arlington | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.8% | 14.3% |
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 9% | 10.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Half commute less than 8 miles. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in North Arlington rose by 277, to 3,602. Commuting out is the norm locally: 5% of working residents work locally. The mean commuting time in the town is 32 minutes.
| North Arlington | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.3% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $94,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 14% | 17% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 24° and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
For North Arlington, the FEMA risk score is 66 of 100. Since 1978, 47 flood insurance claims have been paid out locally. FEMA puts 76% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding. Federal aid has come to North Arlington households in 11 declared disasters; the latest was in 2021.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 15.2 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 58% of New Jersey’s graded towns.
The level of violent crime for North Arlington comes to 1 per 1,000 residents. For North Arlington, the property crime rate is 10.3 per 1,000 residents.
| North Arlington | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 10.3 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Values rose 4.1% in the 12 months to September 2026. North Arlington’s median rent is $1,738 a month. 44% of households live in a home they own locally.
| North Arlington | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 44% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,738 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
38% of North Arlington adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more. No age group stands out against New Jersey: all are within 4 points. In North Arlington, the midpoint age is 40.1 years.
| North Arlington | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 18% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 38% | 45% | 29% |
| Median age | 40.1 years | 42 years | 40.5 years |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.1 points. Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women. Median age: women 39.3, men 40.7.
| North Arlington | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.8% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.5% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.9% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 16.8% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.9% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.6% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.9% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.6% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8.1% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 32% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.2% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.4% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.4% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.9% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
126 within 15 miles of the center of North Arlington
About 6 of every 100 North Arlington residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
North Arlington is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 16,457, an increase of 1,065 (+6.9%) from the 2010 census count of 15,392, which in turn reflected an increase of 211 (+1.4%) from the 15,181 counted in the 2000 census. As the site of Holy Cross Cemetery, which has interred almost 290,000 individuals since its establishment in 1915, and with another Jewish cemetery including several thousand more burials, North Arlington has almost 20 times more dead people than living, with more burials than the living population of Newark, the state's largest city. Holy Cross has an average of 2,600 interments …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with North Arlington.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Lyndhurst Township (B) comes closest.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Arlington | #223 | B | D | B | B | A |
| Kearny | #383 | C− | D | — | C | B |
| Lyndhurst Township | #236 | B | D | B+ | C+ | A |
| Belleville Township | #371 | C | D | C | C | A− |
Kearny reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare North Arlington with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. North Arlington grades B overall, better than 64% of U.S. towns and #223 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A for health, B for safety and B 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.
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