Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The everyday basics are strong; the price of a home is the catch. Its best grade is for safety (A+): it reports less crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns. With an A overall, Ringwood sits 127th of 466 in New Jersey. On that grade it does better than 86% of U.S. towns. Health is another plus (A): it is healthier than 93% of U.S. towns. What holds it back is cost of living (C−) — the typical home is worth about $608K, 6.1 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Just over a third of the land here is conserved, against 11% in New Jersey’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Ringwood State Park, at 3,187 acres with 54.1 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Figures: FBI crime data, 2025 · health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · USGS PAD-US · OpenStreetMap.
Where Ringwood beats most towns.
33.9% of the town is conserved land, across 9 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Ringwood is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Ringwood Manor is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,025 in 1920, 11,735 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and a map from 1955 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ringwood. Close and well known come first.
Big draw27 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw28 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw26 mi MuseumUnited States Military Academy
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw28 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw28 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 · United States Military Academy: USMA Public Affairs Office, Public domain · 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ringwood, 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 Ringwood.
Ringwood keeps more of its land conserved than most of New Jersey, sends most of its workers to New York City and beyond and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in New Jersey.
Its 6,146 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 89% of New Jersey towns.
Count the trails in 9 parks and preserves and they come to 110 miles.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ringwood State Park | 54.1 mi | 3,187 |
| 2. Ramapo Mountain State Forest | 15.8 mi | 1,132 |
| 3. Tranquility Ridge Park | 7.6 mi | 1,333 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Ringwood School District runs its public schools. One of its 4 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. The 4 public schools in Ringwood teach 957 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martin J. Ryerson SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 345 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Violent crime is rare: 5 reported in 2025, 0.4 per 1,000 residents.
The level of property crime in Ringwood is 2 per 1,000 residents. The rate of reported violence here is 0.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Ringwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.4 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
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 no health insurance: 7.1% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 11.3% statewide.
Among adults in Ringwood, 26% have obesity and 17% have been diagnosed with depression. CDC measures, 32 in all: Ringwood beats New Jersey on 14 and trails on 1. Also worth knowing: 9.5% of Ringwood adults smoke cigarettes.
| Ringwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 36% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 28% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 23% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 16% |
| What stands out | Ringwood | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.1% | 11.3% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.3% | 14.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.1% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Ringwood has 1,812 jobs for its 6,241 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
The top destinations are New York (8%), Wayne Township (3%) and Paramus (3%). Only 7% of working residents stay in Ringwood for work; the rest commute out. The town’s median household income stands at $152,000. Half of commuters travel less than 17 miles.
| Ringwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $152,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 2.5% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 15% | 17% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 68% of U.S. communities. Flood insurance has paid out on 16 claims in Ringwood since 1979. 83% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Ringwood after 10 declared disasters, most recently in 2021.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In July, afternoons reach 85°; in January, nights fall to 20°, and about 39 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
53% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Ringwood. By age, Ringwood looks like New Jersey: each broad group is within 4 points. The town’s median age comes in at 42.6 years.
| Ringwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 53% | 45% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
| Median age | 42.6 years | 42 years | 40.5 years |
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.6 points. Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women.
| Ringwood | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.3% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.6% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.6% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.6% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.2% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.9% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.9% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.3% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 22.9% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.2% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 5.1% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 34.3% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 18.2% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Typical home values rose 6.5% in the year to September 2026. The share of households in Ringwood who own their home: 96%.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
20 within 15 miles of the center of Ringwood
About 7 of every 100 Ringwood residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
Where Ringwood’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
2 places in Ringwood on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Ringwood.
Borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, US
Ringwood is a borough in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 11,735, a decrease of 493 (−4.0%) from the 2010 census count of 12,228, which in turn reflected a decrease of 168 (−1.4%) from the 12,396 counted in the 2000 census. It is the home of Ringwood State Park which contains the New Jersey Botanical Garden at Skylands (plus Skylands Manor), the Shepherd Lake Recreation Area and historic Ringwood Manor. The Borough of Ringwood was incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 23, 1918, from a "portion of the Township of Pompton", as one of three boroughs formed from Pompton Township, joining…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Ringwood.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Wanaque (A−) comes closest.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ringwood | #127 | A | C− | A+ | B− | A |
| Wanaque | #133 | A− | D | A+ | B+ | A− |
| West Milford Township | #164 | A− | C− | A | B− | A |
| Bloomingdale | #230 | B | D | A | C+ | A− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Ringwood grades A overall, better than 86% of U.S. towns and #127 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A for health, A+ for safety and B− 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−.
3 notable people were born here, including Darren Soto and Sarah Pagano.
_-_Full_(48124330357).jpg){kind=link}
_-_Central_Park,_NYC.jpg){kind=link}