Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 26,723, settled in 1922. A regional job hub with 40,424 jobs.
Trash day: look up yoursThe typical home is worth about $1.1 million, 10.7 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Overall it grades B−, ranked 293rd of 466 in New Jersey. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 93% of the country and the median household earns $144K. Its weakest subject is safety: it reports more crime per resident than 85% of U.S. towns, including 9 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Paramus’ rent at the middle of the market is $3,032 a month, above both the New Jersey town median ($1,778 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Paramus is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 97% of U.S. towns. Paramus is home to Bergen Community College.
Where Paramus beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Paramus is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 97% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 1%), so the B− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 889 in 1900, 26,698 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1805 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Paramus. Close and well known come first.
Big draw13 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw13 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw13 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw11 mi Stadium & arenaYankee StadiumCentral 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 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Yankee Stadium: Matt Boulton, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Paramus, 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 Paramus.
Paramus draws workers from Paterson and beyond, but it reports more crime than Hackensack and its other graded neighbors and has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey.
At 10.7 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $1.06M) costs more against local pay than in 91% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
Typical home values rose 9.3% in the year to September 2026. 83% of households are owner-occupiers in Paramus. Bidding over the asking price: 53% of homes sold locally.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Paramus Public School District. Of its 28 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason. 5 public schools serve Paramus, with 1,347 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Brook Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 555 | B+ |
| Paramus High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,153 | B+ |
| Applied Technology High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 348 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
The biggest place to walk is Saddle River County Park, 195 acres with 3.4 miles of trail. In 20 parks and preserves, walkers have 18 miles of trail. For Paramus, the concentration of trails is 1.7 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Saddle River County Park | 3.4 mi | 195 |
| 2. Van Saun County Park | 1.6 mi | 41 |
| 3. Petruska Park | 0.4 mi | 10 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
40,424 jobs are based in Paramus, 3.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
For workers in Paramus, the share who work from home is 22%. The top destinations are New York (20%), Hackensack (4%) and Newark (3%). The average trip to work locally is 31 minutes.
| Paramus | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $144,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 22% | 16% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.7% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Within New Jersey it is healthier than 66% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar. Its widest gap with New Jersey is utility shut-off threats: 4.1% of its 21,591 adults were threatened with a utility shut-off, against 7% statewide.
In Paramus, 13% of adults report frequent mental distress. Of 32 CDC measures, Paramus beats the New Jersey average on 18 and trails it on 2.
| Paramus | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 28% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Paramus | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 4.1% | 7% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7.6% | 12.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Each of the 5 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Hackensack (C) to Oradell (A+). Reported crimes rose from 819 to 1,055 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate for Paramus comes to 0.3 per 1,000 residents.
| Paramus | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 39 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.3 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
52% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 44% across New Jersey. People 65 and older are 26% of residents (17% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (21% statewide). Also worth knowing: for Paramus, the median age is 49.1 years.
| Paramus | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 26% | 18% | 18% |
| Median age | 49.1 years | 42 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 52% | 45% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.9 points. Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women.
| Paramus | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.6% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.9% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.8% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.9% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.1% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.6% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.1% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 13.1% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21.4% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.4% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.4% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 32.1% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 19.7% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
In July, afternoons reach 87°; in January, nights fall to 23°, and about 33 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
140 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 15 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected losses in Paramus break down as 76% from inland flooding and 9% from earthquakes. On expected storm and flood damage, Paramus sits below 52% of U.S. communities. Paid flood insurance claims locally since 1978: 140.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
84 within 15 miles of the center of Paramus
About 6 of every 100 Paramus residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
Where Paramus’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
6 places in Paramus on the National Register of Historic Places.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Paramus (English pronunciation: /pəˈɹæːməs/ ) is a borough in the central portion of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A suburban bedroom community of New York City, Paramus is located 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately 8 miles (13 km) west of Upper Manhattan. The Wall Street Journal characterized Paramus as "quintessentially suburban". The borough is also a major commercial hub for North Jersey (home to Garden State Plaza and various corporate headquarters). As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 26,698, an increase of 356 (+1.4%) from the 2010 census count of 26,342, which in turn reflected an increase of …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Paramus.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paramus | #293 | B− | D− | C− | B+ | A |
| Fair Lawn | #98 | A | D | — | A | A+ |
| River Edge | #33 | A+ | D | A− | A | A+ |
| Ridgewood | #42 | A+ | D− | A− | A | A+ |
| Hackensack | #393 | C− | D− | C | C− | B+ |
| Washington Township | #82 | A | D | — | A− | A+ |
| Oradell | #1 | A+ | D | A+ | A | A+ |
| Rochelle Park Township | #267 | B− | D− | B− | B− | A |
Fair Lawn and Washington Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Paramus with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Paramus grades B− overall, better than 49% of U.S. towns and #293 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A for health, C− 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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