Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 22,879. Home to 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
North Plainfield earns a D, 410th among New Jersey's 466 graded towns, mostly because of schools. Its schools rank behind 81% of the state's. One bright spot: it is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 96% of U.S. towns, with 3 places on the National Register. On hazard risk, just 40 of New Jersey’s 530 towns do worse. North Plainfield's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 100% of U.S. towns. North Plainfield is home to Yeshiva Gedolah Tiferes Boruch.
Where North Plainfield beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Washington Park Historic DistrictEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far North Plainfield is from typical.
Its best grade is an A+ for history (#28 of 468 in New Jersey; 3 places on the National Register; 10 notable people born here), which describes the town but isn’t part of the overall grade; its D comes from the livability subjects above.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 5,009 in 1900, 22,808 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around North Plainfield. Close and well known come first.
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw27 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw26 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw27 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw24 mi BeachConey IslandMadison 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 · Coney Island: OptimumPx, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in North Plainfield, 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 Plainfield.
North Plainfield is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s; it also carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New Jersey (mostly inland flooding).
Its public schools are run by the North Plainfield School District. Two of its 9 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| West End SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 600 | D |
| North Plainfield High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,141 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 92% of New Jersey towns, with expected losses of about $537 per resident a year; that rating is what its D for hazard risk is built on. 523 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 105 properties have flooded more than once.
North Plainfield’s FEMA risk score is 85 of 100, above both New Jersey’s towns (52 of 100) and U.S. towns (44 of 100). Since 1978, 523 flood insurance claims have been paid out in North Plainfield.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents leave North Plainfield for work: only 4% work in town. 13% of North Plainfield residents live below the poverty line, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 6% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Since 2013, North Plainfield has added 600 jobs, to 3,398 in 2023.
| North Plainfield | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 9.3% | 17% | 11% |
| Median household income | $87,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
North Plainfield has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 23° and about 21 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical North Plainfield home is worth about $494,000, about the same as a year ago, 14% below the New Jersey typical home. 53% of North Plainfield households own their home.
| North Plainfield | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 53% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,752 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
0.5 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The trail density in North Plainfield is 0.2 miles per square mile. The biggest park or preserve is Green Brook Park, at 60 acres.
| North Plainfield | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 7.6% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Green Acres Park | 0.4 mi | 42 |
| 2. Green Brook Park | — | 60 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 21.3 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 74% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 442 to 311 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
North Plainfield’s property crime rate is 12.1 per 1,000 residents.
| North Plainfield | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 12.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.3 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
North Plainfield beats the New Jersey average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 15. 20% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in North Plainfield.
| North Plainfield | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 11% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 36% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 23% |
| What stands out | North Plainfield | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.2% | 7.5% |
| More uninsured adults | 20.3% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
17 within 15 miles of the center of North Plainfield
About 8 of every 100 North Plainfield residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
Where North Plainfield’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 places in North Plainfield on the National Register of Historic Places.
10 notable people were born in North Plainfield.
Borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, US
North Plainfield is a borough in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located within the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 22,808, an increase of 872 (+4.0%) from the 2010 census count of 21,936, which in turn reflected an increase of 833 (+3.9%) from the 21,103 counted in the 2000 census. North Plainfield Township was created from portions of Warren Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature passed on April 2, 1872. The borough of North Plainfield became an independent municipality on June 9, 1885. The name derives from Plainfield, which in turn derived its name from a local estate and for its scenic location. …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with North Plainfield.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Plainfield | #410 | D | D | C+ | C− | B− |
| Plainfield | #451 | D− | D | — | D− | C− |
| Watchung | #272 | B− | D− | C− | A− | A+ |
| Green Brook Township | #174 | A− | D | A− | B+ | B+ |
Plainfield reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare North Plainfield with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
North Plainfield grades D overall, better than 15% of U.S. towns and #410 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades B− for health, C+ for safety and C− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. That is 5 years of the area's median household income ($99,155 across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
North Plainfield has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 10 notable people were born here, including John DiMaggio and Molly Price.
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