Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
South Bound Brook grades C overall, ranked 365th of 466 in New Jersey, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns. On the other side, the typical home is worth about $451K, 4.6 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. South Bound Brook's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 98% of U.S. towns. Staats House is on the National Register of Historic Places. 24% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in South Bound Brook, below both the New Jersey town median (45%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%).
Where South Bound Brook beats most towns.
Where South Bound Brook’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 South Bound Brook is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 671 in 1880, 4,863 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1740 and 6 maps from 1891 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around South Bound Brook. Close and well known come first.
Big draw31 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw33 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw32 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw33 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw29 mi BeachConey IslandMadison 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 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Coney Island: OptimumPx, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in South Bound Brook, 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 South Bound Brook.
South Bound Brook costs less than Bound Brook or any other town next door and is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in New Jersey; it also has a long record of flood insurance claims.
83 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 10 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 80% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 83 flood insurance claims have been paid out in South Bound Brook.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the South Bound Brook Public School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Morris SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 445 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests
South Bound Brook has 418 jobs for its 2,465 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave South Bound Brook for work: only 2% work in town. 13% of residents live below the poverty line in South Bound Brook. Since 2013, South Bound Brook has added 53 jobs, to 418 in 2023.
| South Bound Brook | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 10% | 17% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.2% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Median household income | $113,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its typical home is the least expensive on its borders; Bound Brook is next at $509K. 69.3% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 51.6% across New Jersey.
58% of South Bound Brook households own their home. The typical South Bound Brook home is worth about $451,000, about the same as a year ago, 22% below the New Jersey typical home. The median rent in South Bound Brook is $1,778 a month.
| South Bound Brook | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 58% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,778 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
South Bound Brook has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 23° and about 21 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
South Bound Brook's reported crime rate is below New Jersey's. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025.
| South Bound Brook | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.4 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11.4 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 85% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar. Against the 6,755 U.S. towns with household incomes like South Bound Brook’s, it is less healthy than 78%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
South Bound Brook beats the New Jersey average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10.
| South Bound Brook | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 36% | 36% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 11% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 16% |
| What stands out | South Bound Brook | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.2% | 7.5% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 9.8% | 7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0.2 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, at 80 acres. South Bound Brook’s trail density is 0.3 miles per square mile.
| South Bound Brook | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.7% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park | 0.1 mi | 80 |
| 2. Memorial Park | — | 4 |
| 3. Maple Avenue Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
8 within 15 miles of the center of South Bound Brook
About 4 of every 100 South Bound Brook residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
Borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, US
South Bound Brook is a borough in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,863, an increase of 300 (+6.6%) from the 2010 census count of 4,563, which in turn reflected an increase of 71 (+1.6%) from the 4,492 counted in the 2000 census. What is now South Bound Brook was originally formed as a town within Franklin Township. On March 16, 1869, the name of the community was changed to Bloomington, which lasted until May 29, 1891, when the name reverted to South Bound Brook town. South Bound Brook was incorporated as an independent borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 11, 1907, based on the results …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with South Bound Brook.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Bound Brook | #365 | C | D | — | B− | B− |
| Piscataway Township | #229 | B | D | — | B | A |
| Bound Brook | #389 | C− | D− | — | C− | B |
| Franklin Center | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Franklin Township | #246 | B | D | B+ | C | A |
| Middlesex | #188 | B+ | C− | A | B− | B+ |
South Bound Brook, Piscataway Township and Bound Brook report no FBI crime data of their own. Franklin Center isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare South Bound Brook with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
South Bound Brook grades C overall, better than 28% of U.S. towns and #365 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades B− for health and B− 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.
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