Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The typical home is worth about $662K, 6.7 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Overall it grades B−, 278th among New Jersey's 466 graded towns. The median household earns $114K and CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 84% of the country. 1.3% of the land in Totowa is conserved, below both New Jersey’s towns (11%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). On the outdoors, just 35 of New Jersey’s 530 towns do worse. Van Houten-Van Allen House is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Totowa beats most towns.
Where Totowa’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 Totowa is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for jobs and income (better than 96% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 2%), so the B− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 562 in 1900, 11,065 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1772 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Totowa. Close and well known come first.
Big draw10 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw16 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw16 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw16 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw16 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw16 mi Stadium & arenaYankee StadiumMetLife 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 · Yankee Stadium: Matt Boulton, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Totowa, 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 Totowa.
Totowa draws workers from Paterson and beyond and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in New Jersey; it also has a long record of flood insurance claims.
13,069 jobs are based in Totowa, 2.2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Totowa for work: only 9% work in town. 4.1% of Totowa residents live below the poverty line, against 6.1% in New Jersey’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Since 2013, Totowa has added 1,261 jobs, to 13,069 in 2023.
| Totowa | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 4.1% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $114,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 16% | 17% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Totowa Public School District. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Park SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 4–8 | Grades 4–8 | 485 | C+ |
| Passaic Regional SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 8–12 | Grades 8–12 | – | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 55% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
27% of Totowa adults have obesity. Totowa beats the New Jersey average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 16% of Totowa adults have been diagnosed with depression.
| Totowa | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 28% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 16% | 23% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 78% | 79% |
| What stands out | Totowa | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 5.6% | 7% |
| Fewer adults without reliable transportation | 6.2% | 7.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.7% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Totowa has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 22° and about 24 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median rent in Totowa is $2,072 a month. Typical home values rose 5.6% in the year to September 2026.
| Totowa | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,072 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 74% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Adults 18 to 34 are 15% of residents (21% statewide). 24% of residents are under 18 in Totowa. 41% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 44% across New Jersey.
| Totowa | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 24% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 41% | 45% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 19% | 18% | 18% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.5 points. Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women.
| Totowa | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.7% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.9% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.2% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.1% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 15.5% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.3% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.4% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.7% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.5% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 28.8% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.4% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 5.6% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.2% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.5% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Totowa's reported crime rate is above New Jersey's. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. 10 violent crimes were reported in 2025.
| Totowa | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 18.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.9 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Boonstra Park | — | 3 |
| 2. Veterans Field Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
475 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 50 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 51% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 475 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Totowa.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
36 within 15 miles of the center of Totowa
About 8 of every 100 Totowa residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
5 notable people were born in Totowa.
Borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, US
Totowa ( ) 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 11,065, an increase of 261 (+2.4%) from the 2010 census count of 10,804, which in turn reflected an increase of 912 (+9.2%) from the 9,892 counted in the 2000 census. Totowa was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 15, 1898, from portions of Wayne Township and the now-defunct Manchester Township.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Totowa.
Paterson next door grades lower for schools (D to Totowa’s C+) and higher for cost of living (C− to D−).
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totowa | #278 | B− | D− | — | C+ | A− |
| Wayne Township | #214 | B+ | D− | C+ | B+ | A+ |
| Woodland Park | #264 | B− | D | B+ | C+ | B+ |
| Little Falls Township | #155 | A− | D | A− | B+ | A |
| Haledon | #406 | C− | D | — | D | B |
| Paterson | #460 | D− | C− | D | D | D |
| Preakness | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Totowa and Haledon report no FBI crime data of their own. Preakness isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Totowa with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Totowa grades B− overall, better than 52% of U.S. towns and #278 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A− for health and C+ 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−.
5 notable people were born here, including Aidan Stokes and Kyle Gurrieri.
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