Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Rahway's standout: it is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns. Overall it grades C, ranked 363rd of 466 in New Jersey. 9% of its land is conserved. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $538K, 5.4 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. 52% of households own their home in Rahway, below both New Jersey’s towns (77%) and U.S. towns (73%). Rahway's public schools trail 91% of New Jersey towns on state tests and graduation. Rahway has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Merchants' and Drovers' Tavern and Rahway Theatre.
Where Rahway beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Franklin Elementary School | PK–6 | 658 |
| Roosevelt Elementary School | PK–6 | 608 |
| Grover Cleveland Elementary School | PK–6 | 453 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Rahway is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 97% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 5%), so the C overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 7,130 in 1860, 29,556 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1802 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rahway. Close and well known come first.
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw20 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw19 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw16 mi BeachConey Island
Big draw16 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 · Coney Island: OptimumPx, Public domain · National September 11 Memorial & Museum: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rahway, 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 Rahway.
Rahway trades workers with New York City and other neighbors, is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s and is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in New Jersey.
Each of its 3 graded neighbors has a higher School Grade than that grade, Clark Township highest at B+.
The Rahway Public School District runs its public schools. Two of the 7 schools are below, and why each made the list. 5 public schools serve Rahway, with 2,804 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rahway 7th & 8th Grade AcademyLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 701 | C− |
| Rahway High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,286 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 69% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
Just over a tenth of Rahway adults smoke cigarettes. This New Jersey town beats the New Jersey average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. In Rahway, 41% of adults sleep under 7 hours, and 18% worry about having enough food.
| Rahway | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 36% | 36% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Rahway | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.1% | 7.5% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 19.1% | 22.2% |
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 16.2% | 12.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
A winter brings about 32 inches of snow, with January nights at 24° and July afternoons at 87°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Rahway has about as many jobs (15,382) as working residents, but only 1,129 people both live and work here. Jobs based here grew from 10,507 in 2013 to 15,382.
The median commute is under 12 miles. Jobs in Rahway grew by 4,875 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 15,382. Only 7% of working residents stay in Rahway for work; the rest commute out. The town’s typical journey to work is 32 minutes.
| Rahway | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 17% | 16% | 11% |
| Median household income | $91,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 9.5% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
887 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 129 properties have flooded more than once.
Federal disaster aid has reached households in Rahway after 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2021. Compared with 62% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage locally is higher. 887 flood insurance claims have been paid in the town since 1978. FEMA puts just over three quarters of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 6% to earthquakes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Here, just over a third of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree, against 44% in New Jersey as a whole. No broad age group is more than 4 points off the New Jersey average. Rahway has grown 4.9% since 2020, to 31,010 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. For residents locally, the share who are under 18 is 19%.
| Rahway | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 45% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
| Median age | 39.7 years | 42 years | 40.5 years |
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.1 points). Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women.
| Rahway | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.8% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.6% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.5% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.7% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.1% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.9% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.2% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.3% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.9% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.9% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 19% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.9% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.3% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The biggest park or preserve is Rahway River Park, at 72 acres. 1.3 miles of trail in 9 parks and preserves. Also worth knowing: for Rahway, the trail density is 0.3 miles per square mile.
| Rahway | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 8.9% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rahway River Park | — | 72 |
| 2. Milton Lake Park | 0.1 mi | 33 |
| 3. Madison Avenue Park | — | 17 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 15.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 60% of New Jersey’s graded towns.
The violent offense rate in Rahway is 1.9 per 1,000 residents. The rate of thefts and burglaries locally is 7.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Rahway | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.9 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 7.4 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The rent at the middle of the market for Rahway comes to $1,845 a month. The typical Rahway home is worth about $538,000, up 1.5% in a year, 7% below the New Jersey typical home. A home in Rahway typically sold within 53 days of listing.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
28 within 15 miles of the center of Rahway
About 7 of every 100 Rahway residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
2 places in Rahway on the National Register of Historic Places.
29 notable people were born in Rahway.
City in Union County, New Jersey, US
Rahway () is a city in southern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway Valley region, in the New York metropolitan area. The city is 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Manhattan and 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Staten Island. Built on the navigable Rahway River, it was an industrial and artisanal craft city for much of its history. The city has increasingly reinvented itself in recent years as a diverse regional hub for the arts and biological sciences, with a new global headquarters for Merck & Co. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 29,556, its highest decennial count ever and an increase…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Rahway.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its C; Linden (C) is closest.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rahway | #363 | C | D | B | D | B+ |
| Woodbridge Township | #277 | B− | D− | — | C+ | A− |
| Colonia | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Clark Township | #189 | B+ | D | C+ | B+ | A |
| Avenel | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Linden | #360 | C | D | — | C− | B |
Woodbridge Township and Linden report no FBI crime data of their own. Colonia and Avenel aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Rahway with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Rahway grades C overall, better than 28% of U.S. towns and #363 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades B+ for health, B for safety and D 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.
Rahway has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 29 notable people were born here, including Chris Smith and Paul Le Mat.
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