Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 10,555, settled in 1871.
River Vale Township is one of the best-graded places in America: an A+, ranked 6th of 466 in New Jersey. It is healthier than 98% of U.S. towns, the median household earns $214K, and it reports less crime per resident than 95% of U.S. towns. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $998K, 10.1 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. 72% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in River Vale Township, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 45% and U.S. towns at 29%. River Vale Township is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 87% of U.S. towns. River Vale Township has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Haring-Blauvelt-Demarest House and William Holdrum House.
Where River Vale Township beats most towns.
Where River Vale Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far River Vale Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 266 in 1900, 9,909 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2008 and 4 maps from 1934 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around River Vale Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw16 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw17 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw16 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw13 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 River Vale Township, 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 River Vale Township.
River Vale Township sends many workers across the state line to Orangetown and has less food insecurity than most of New Jersey, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey.
At 10.1 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $998K) costs more against local pay than in 88% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living.
90% of River Vale Township households own their home. Typical home values rose 7.7% in the year to September 2026.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its A− for schools comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $998K.
Its public schools are run by the River Vale Public School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holdrum Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 347 | A |
| Roberge Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 338 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
7.8 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. River Vale Township’s trail density is 1.8 miles per square mile.
| River Vale Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.8 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 7.4% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mark Lane Field Complex | 0.6 mi | 10 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 6.8% of its 21,249 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide. Against the 809 U.S. towns with household incomes like River Vale Township’s, it is healthier than 69%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
24% of adults have obesity in River Vale Township. River Vale Township beats the New Jersey average on 18 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 15% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in River Vale Township.
| River Vale Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 28% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 23% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.1% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.6% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | River Vale Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.8% | 14.3% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.1% | 11.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.1% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025, 0.2 per 1,000 residents.
The property crime rate in River Vale Township is 2.4 per 1,000 residents.
| River Vale Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.4 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
24% of working residents cross a state line to work, Orangetown among the top destinations. The average commute for its 4,944 working residents takes 39.2 minutes, against 30.5 across New Jersey.
Most working residents leave River Vale Township for work: only 4% work in town. Jobs based in River Vale Township grew to 2,399 in 2023, 970 more than in 2013. The top destinations are New York (21%), Paramus (3%) and Hackensack (3%).
| River Vale Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $214,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 39 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 1.8% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.8% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
River Vale Township has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 22° and about 33 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
112 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 23 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 54% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 112 flood insurance claims have been paid out in River Vale Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
59 within 15 miles of the center of River Vale Township
About 6 of every 100 River Vale Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
2 places in River Vale Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
Township in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
River Vale is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. River Vale is the easternmost municipality in an area of the county referred to as the Pascack Valley. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 9,909. It was ranked #29 on the 100 Best Places to Live 2007 survey published by CNN/Money magazine. River Vale was formed as a township on April 30, 1906, from portions of both Hillsdale Township (now Hillsdale Borough) and Washington Township. The township was named for its location along the Hackensack River. On January 5, 1904, the temperature in River Vale fell to −34 °F (−37 °C), the lowest temperature ever recorded in New Jersey.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with River Vale Township.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| River Vale Township | #6 | A+ | C− | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Old Tappan | #7 | A+ | D− | A | A | A+ |
| Westwood | #40 | A+ | D | A | A− | A+ |
| Hillsdale | #8 | A+ | D | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Harrington Park | #4 | A+ | D | A+ | A | A+ |
| Park Ridge | #18 | A+ | D− | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Emerson | #19 | A+ | D | A+ | B+ | A+ |
| Montvale | #78 | A | D | B+ | A− | A+ |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. River Vale Township grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #6 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 Dan Fogelman and Mike Bajakian.
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