Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 12,837, settled in 1872.
Few places in the country grade higher. Oakland earns an A+, 26th among New Jersey's 466 graded towns. Residents are healthier than 96% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, it reports less crime per resident than 92% of U.S. towns, and the median household earns $162K. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $769K, 7.8 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Oakland’s trail density is 2.7 miles per square mile, above both the New Jersey town median (0.7) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4). Oakland has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Van Allen House and Demarest-Hopper House. Oakland is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 80% of U.S. towns.
Where Oakland beats most towns.
16.4% of the town is conserved land, across 7 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Oakland is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 479 in 1900, 12,748 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1907 and 6 maps from 1891 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Oakland. Close and well known come first.
Big draw22 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw17 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw29 mi MuseumUnited States Military Academy
Big draw23 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw23 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 Oakland, 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 Oakland.
Oakland has less food insecurity than most of New Jersey, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey and has a long record of flood insurance claims.
24 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Ramapo Mountain State Forest, 755 acres with 10.9 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ramapo Mountain State Forest | 10.9 mi | 755 |
| 2. Ramapo Valley County Reservation | 4.6 mi | 539 |
| 3. Campgaw Mountain Reservation | 1.9 mi | 177 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Oakland Public School District. Three of its 12 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valley Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 446 | A− |
| Indian Hills High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 668 | A− |
| Manito Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 255 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 7.7% of its 9,951 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide. Against the 2,044 U.S. towns with household incomes like Oakland’s, it is healthier than 76%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
26% of adults have obesity in Oakland, below both New Jersey’s towns (28%) and U.S. towns (35%). 10% of Oakland adults report frequent physical distress. Oakland beats the New Jersey average on 15 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| Oakland | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 28% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 12% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.6% | 11% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.1% | 9.7% | 12% |
| What stands out | Oakland | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.7% | 14.3% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.6% | 11.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.9% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Violent crime is rare: 7 reported in 2025, 0.5 per 1,000 residents.
The property crime rate in Oakland is 3.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Oakland | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.5 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.5 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
At 7.8 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $769K) costs more against local pay than in 78% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to its C for cost of living.
93% of households own their home in Oakland. Typical home values rose 7.8% in the year to September 2026. Oakland’s median rent is $1,383 a month.
| Oakland | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 93% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,383 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
556 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 68 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 68% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 556 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Oakland.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Oakland has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 21° and about 24 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most working residents leave Oakland for work: only 7% work in town. Jobs based in Oakland grew to 5,546 in 2023, 608 more than in 2013. The top destinations are New York (14%), Hackensack (3%) and Franklin Lakes (3%).
| Oakland | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $162,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 22% | 16% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 3.1% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
26 within 15 miles of the center of Oakland
About 9 of every 100 Oakland residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
5 places in Oakland on the National Register of Historic Places.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Oakland is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey and a suburb of New York City. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 12,748, a decrease of six people from the 2010 census count of 12,754, which in turn reflected an increase of 288 (+2.3%) from the 12,466 counted in the 2000 census. Oakland was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1902, from portions of Franklin Township (now Wyckoff). The name comes from the white oak trees in the area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Oakland.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland | #26 | A+ | C | A | A− | A+ |
| Franklin Lakes | #21 | A+ | D− | A | A− | A+ |
| Mahwah Township | #116 | A | D− | — | A− | A+ |
| Pines Lake | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wayne Township | #214 | B+ | D− | C+ | B+ | A+ |
Mahwah Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Pines Lake isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Oakland with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Oakland grades A+ overall, better than 97% of U.S. towns and #26 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 C.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
2 notable people were born here, including DeAnne DeFuccio and Mike Teel.
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