Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Roselle's standout: it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 98% of U.S. towns. Overall it grades C, ranked 355th of 466 in New Jersey. Natural-hazard risk is low and 13% of its land is conserved. Its weakest subject is schools: its schools rank behind 86% of the state's. Only 25 of New Jersey’s 527 towns score lower on civic life. 55% of households own their home in Roselle, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 77% and U.S. towns at 73%. The biggest park or preserve is Warinanco Park, at 194 acres.
Where Roselle beats most towns.
Where Roselle’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 Roselle is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D for schools (better than 14%), so the C overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 737 in 1880, 22,695 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Roselle. Close and well known come first.
Big draw16 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw18 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw15 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw16 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw14 mi MuseumNational September 11 Memorial & Museum
Big draw18 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a yearMadison 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 · National September 11 Memorial & Museum: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Roselle, 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 Roselle.
Roselle carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of New Jersey (mostly inland flooding), 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 its D, Cranford Township highest at A−.
Its public schools are run by the Roselle Public School District. Two of its 9 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leonard V Moore Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–6 | Grades 5–6 | 485 | D |
| Abraham Clark High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 926 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 91% of New Jersey towns, with expected losses of about $163 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on. 371 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 46 properties have flooded more than once.
Roselle’s FEMA risk score is 18 of 100. Since 1978, 371 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Roselle.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents leave Roselle for work: only 4% work in town. The average trip to work in Roselle is 33 minutes. The top destinations are New York (10%), Newark (10%) and Elizabeth (7%).
| Roselle | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 10% | 17% | 11% |
| Median household income | $93,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Roselle has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 24° and about 32 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
0.9 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Warinanco Park | 0.2 mi | 194 |
| 2. Leonard Bud Simmons Park | 0.2 mi | 1 |
| 3. Grove Street Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The typical Roselle home is worth about $516,000, up 1.7% in a year, 10% below the New Jersey typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 86% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar. Against the 9,603 U.S. towns with household incomes like Roselle’s, it is less healthy than 62%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Roselle beats the New Jersey average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 15. 45% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Roselle.
| Roselle | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 45% | 36% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 23% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Roselle | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.2% | 7.5% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 19.5% | 22.2% |
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 20.9% | 12.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 18.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 68% of New Jersey’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
64 within 15 miles of the center of Roselle
About 8 of every 100 Roselle residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
12 notable people were born in Roselle.
Borough in Union County, New Jersey, US
Roselle ( row-ZELL) is a borough located in Union County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 22,695, an increase of 1,610 (+7.6%) from the 2010 census count of 21,085, which in turn reflected a decline of 189 (−0.9%) from the 21,274 counted in the 2000 census. The Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 22,342 in 2023, a decrease of 353 (−1.6%).
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Roselle.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roselle | #355 | C | C− | B− | D | B− |
| Linden | #360 | C | D | — | C− | B |
| Cranford Township | #55 | A | D | A− | A− | A+ |
| Elizabeth | #435 | D | D | D | C | C |
Linden reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Roselle with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Roselle grades C overall, better than 31% of U.S. towns and #355 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades B− for health, B− for safety and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. That is 5.2 years of the area's median household income ($99,155 across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
12 notable people were born here, including Joe Caroff and Chris McGarry.
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