Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Settled in 1876, this town now has 19,132 residents.
The everyday basics are strong; the price of a home is the catch. Health is where it shines: it is healthier than 96% of U.S. towns. Overall, Rutherford earns an A: better than 89% of U.S. towns, and 105th of 466 in New Jersey. What holds it back is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $763K, 7.7 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. This New Jersey town has 7 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them William Carlos Williams House and Rutherford Station. Rutherford's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in just over four fifths of U.S. towns. 61% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more locally, against 45% in New Jersey’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns. The town is among the most walkable places in the country.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Rutherford beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Rutherford | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.4% | 14.3% |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Rutherford is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 12%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,299 in 1880, 18,834 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1891 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rutherford. Close and well known come first.
Big draw2 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw8 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw8 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw8 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw9 mi MuseumNational September 11 Memorial & MuseumMetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Madison 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 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · National September 11 Memorial & Museum: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rutherford, 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 Rutherford.
Rutherford trades workers with New York City and other neighbors and is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s; it also has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey.
8% of adults have diabetes in Rutherford. In Rutherford, one in ten adults report frequent physical distress, and 25% have obesity.
| Rutherford | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 12% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 28% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.1% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Rutherford | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.4% | 14.3% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.4% | 9.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its A− is the best School Grade on its borders; Lyndhurst Township (C+) is next.
The public schools here belong to the Rutherford School District. The largest public high school is Rutherford High School, with 727 students. Two of the 6 schools are below, and why each made the list.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pierrepont SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 4–6 | Grades 4–6 | 569 | B+ |
| Rutherford High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 727 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
At 7.7 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $763K) costs more against local pay than in 77% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to that grade. Its typical home is the priciest on its borders; Lyndhurst Township is next at $652K.
Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 7.2% in value. The midpoint rent in Rutherford is $1,966 a month. The share of households in Rutherford who live in a home they own: 64%.
| Rutherford | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,966 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 64% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
237 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 55 properties have flooded more than once.
Flood insurance has paid out on 237 claims in Rutherford since 1984. On expected storm and flood damage, Rutherford sits above 76% of U.S. communities. 77% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 10.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 58% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 238 to 137 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
For Rutherford, the violent crime rate is 0.3 per 1,000 residents. The town’s level of property crime is 6.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Rutherford | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.3 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 6.8 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The biggest park or preserve is Rutherford Memorial Park, at 31 acres. 1.5 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. The trail network density for Rutherford comes to 0.5 miles per square mile.
| Rutherford | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2.6% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rutherford Memorial Park | 0.6 mi | 31 |
| 2. Lincoln Woods | — | 2 |
| 3. Lincoln Park | 0.2 mi | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
In July, afternoons reach 87°; in January, nights fall to 24°, and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Rutherford has about as many jobs (9,009) as working residents, but only 557 people both live and work here. Jobs based here grew from 6,672 in 2013 to 9,009.
Rutherford’s typical household income comes in at $143,000. Only 6% of working residents stay in Rutherford for work; the rest commute out. Employers in Rutherford added 2,337 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 9,009. Nearly a quarter of Rutherford workers work from home.
| Rutherford | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $143,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 23% | 16% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 34 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5.5% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
119 within 15 miles of the center of Rutherford
About 10 of every 100 Rutherford residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
7 places in Rutherford on the National Register of Historic Places.
16 notable people were born in Rutherford.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 18,834, an increase of 773 (+4.3%) from the 2010 census count of 18,061, which in turn reflected a decline of 49 (−0.3%) from the 18,110 counted in the 2000 census. Rutherford was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on September 21, 1881, from portions of Union Township, based on the results of a referendum held on the previous day. The borough was named for John Rutherfurd, a U.S. Senator who owned land in the area. Rutherford has been called the "Borough of Trees" and "The First Borough of Bergen County", and is known as well …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Rutherford.
It grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Lyndhurst Township (B) comes closest.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rutherford | #105 | A | D | B+ | A− | A+ |
| Lyndhurst Township | #236 | B | D | B+ | C+ | A |
| East Rutherford | #287 | B− | D− | — | C+ | A |
| Passaic | #457 | D− | C− | D | D | C− |
| Clifton | #341 | C+ | D | — | C− | B+ |
East Rutherford and Clifton report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Rutherford with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Rutherford grades A overall, better than 89% of U.S. towns and #105 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A+ for health, B+ for safety and A− 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.
16 notable people were born here, including William Carlos Williams and John Marin.
_-_Full_(48124330357).jpg){kind=link}
_-_Central_Park,_NYC.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}