Trenton, the state capital · Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0How New Jersey stacks up
No state charges homeowners more in property tax than New Jersey: the typical property-tax bill is $9,590. New Jersey is safe and split at once: 35% of residents live in towns among the nation’s safest quarter, like Vernon Township and Bernards Township, while 20% live in places such as Newark, Paterson and Elizabeth, in the quarter reporting the most crime. All told, New Jersey grades A−, 13th of 51 with a score of 76.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
4th of 51A94/100 Safe, but not everywhere. Its towns run the full range: Bernards Township and Raritan Township rank near the top of the country, Newark and Paterson near the bottom. Violent crime runs at 199 per 100,000 residents, 40% below the national figure (6th lowest among the states). Only New Hampshire and one other state put more residents in the nation’s safest quarter of towns.
Counting property crime too (property + 4 × violent, the weighting our town grades use): 8th lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 208 New Jersey towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 83% of residents of New Jersey’s 10,000+ towns.
A safe state with a few hard places
That mix is unusual: New Hampshire and Rhode Island, also near the top, have almost no high-crime towns. In Paramus and Secaucus, property crime rather than violence puts them in the quarter reporting the most crime; violent crime there is below the national middle. Its safest larger towns are Vernon Township (#8), Hillsdale (#29) and Monroe Township (#32), ranked against every U.S. town of 10,000+.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Massachusetts | 29% | 24% |
Some towns not counted
Each town’s figure is built from its own department’s FBI reports, so towns with gaps sit out rather than being estimated. Here the towns counted hold 83% of residents of towns of 10,000+. Woodbridge Township, Clifton and Cherry Hill Township are among 37 towns with too few years reported. Six places report no crime of their own, among them Tinton Falls, Upper Township and Wantage Township; county or state police patrol them, and their crimes aren’t counted by town. Among its neighbors, Connecticut counts the most (92%) and Delaware the least (72%).
Schools
1st of 51A+100/100 Among the strongest schools in the country. Millburn Township is the best towns in the country for schools. Measured on the one test every state gives, 39% of its students reach Proficient (2nd highest). Only Massachusetts puts more residents in the nation’s strongest-school quarter of towns.
In the class of 2023, 90.5% graduated on time, 3rd highest; graduation counts as much as test results in the grade.
Spending: $28,441 per pupil, 3rd highest. Shown for context, not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 251 New Jersey towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
47th of 51D8/100 Cost is the price of living here. Even its best town, Camden, ranks #573 of 5,235 nationally. New Jersey ranks last in the country on this measure: the typical property-tax bill is $9,590. Every neighbor scores higher, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut among them.
Home values run 4.4 times the median household income, 16th highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 251 New Jersey towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
9th of 51A−84/100 Good health overall. 17% of adults describe their health as fair or poor, against 19% nationally. Chatham ranks first of 5,218 U.S. towns for health.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 251 New Jersey towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
22nd of 51B58/100 More owners in its towns than statewide. 64% of homes are lived in by their owners, against 65% nationally (12th lowest). No state puts more of its people in the nation’s highest-ownership quarter of towns (30%). East Greenwich Township is among the ten best towns in the country for home ownership (#2).
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 251 New Jersey towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
23rd of 51B56/100 A bit less exposed than most. Inland flooding drives 73% of the $134 a year FEMA expects natural hazards to cost per $100,000 of buildings (24th lowest). Inland flooding and strong wind account for 80% of the expected damage. Glassboro leads its towns at #260 nationally; 10% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
The federal government declared seven major disasters here between 2015 and 2025 (18th fewest).
What drives it: inland flooding 73%, strong wind 8%, hurricane 7% of expected building damage.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 251 New Jersey towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
51st of 51D−0/100 The commute is the toll. Top-quarter towns are rare here; Lower Township comes closest at #729. Getting to work takes 30.5 minutes on average (3rd longest). New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut all do better on commute times.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 251 New Jersey towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
32nd of 51C+38/100 Growing a little slower than the country. The population grew 5.7% between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, against 7.4% nationally (26th fastest). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Princeton its best at #31 of 5,079.
Building: 3.1 new homes permitted per 1,000 residents in 2025, 13th fewest.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 251 New Jersey towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How New Jersey compares to its neighbors
Against New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware, New Jersey leads on safety and schools but trails on cost of living and the commute.
| New Jersey | New York | Pennsylvania | Connecticut | Delaware | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A− 7613th of 51 | C 3235th of 51 | A 887th of 51 | B+ 6817th of 51 | C 3434th of 51 |
| Safety | A 946th official · 35% in top towns | B− 4635th official · 9% in top towns | A 8816th official · 29% in top towns | A 922nd official · 28% in top towns | C− 1632nd official · 0% in top towns |
| Schools | A+ 1002nd official · 38% in top towns | B+ 7427th official · 20% in top towns | A 8812th official · 38% in top towns | A 944th official · 35% in top towns | C− 2247th official · 0% in top towns |
| Cost of living | D 851st official · 3% in top towns | C− 1648th official · 5% in top towns | B 5833rd official · 43% in top towns | D 1049th official · 2% in top towns | A− 7613th official · 32% in top towns |
| Health | A− 8412th official · 41% in top towns | B+ 6620th official · 22% in top towns | B 6227th official · 23% in top towns | A 889th official · 41% in top towns | C+ 3829th official · 9% in top towns |
| Housing | B 5840th official · 30% in top towns | C+ 3650th official · 21% in top towns | A 9017th official · 26% in top towns | A− 7834th official · 30% in top towns | A 885th official · 10% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | B 5624th official · 10% in top towns | A+ 964th official · 74% in top towns | A− 7811th official · 39% in top towns | C 2830th official · <1% in top towns | B+ 6617th official · 15% in top towns |
| Commute | D− 049th official · 1% in top towns | D 1251st official · 17% in top towns | C 3036th official · 15% in top towns | C− 1837th official · 6% in top towns | C+ 3634th official · 15% in top towns |
| Growth | C+ 3826th official · 12% in top towns | C− 2233rd official · 2% in top towns | D 844th official · 9% in top towns | D− 048th official · 0% in top towns | B 6214th official · 27% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work