Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Union City's standout: it is among the most walkable places in the country. Overall it grades C−, ranked 399th of 466 in New Jersey. Its weakest subject is cost of living: homes are expensive, about $559K for a typical one and 5.6 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. 23% of residents live below the poverty line in Union City, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 6% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. On health, just 40 of New Jersey’s 530 towns do worse. Union City's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 99% of U.S. towns.
Where Union City beats most towns.
Monastery and Church of Saint Michael the ArchangelWhere Union City’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 Union City is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 11%), so the C− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 4,640 in 1870, 68,589 in 2020. The archive holds 22 old photos and papers going back to 1903 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Union City. Close and well known come first.
Big draw2 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw4 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw3 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw4 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw4 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw4 mi MuseumNational September 11 Memorial & MuseumMadison 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 · MetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · 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 Union City, 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 Union City.
Union City sends many workers across the state line, but it has poverty well above the New Jersey rate.
There are 1.0 miles of trail across 3 parks and preserves. Union City’s density of trails is 0.8 miles per square mile.
| Union City | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2.8% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Washington Park | 0.6 mi | 14 |
| 2. Elsworth Park | 0.2 mi | 2 |
| 3. Jaun Pablo Duarte Park | 0.1 mi | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The public schools here belong to the Union City School District. Three of the 17 schools are below, and why each made the list. 6 public schools serve Union City, with 4,591 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emerson Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 999 | C |
| Union City High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 3,147 | C− |
| Jose Marti STEM AcademyTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 625 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
23% of working residents cross a state line to work. Jobs based here grew from 9,691 in 2013 to 13,079.
Union City had 13,079 jobs in 2023, up 3,388 from 2013. Its average trip to work is 33 minutes. The top destinations are New York (26%), Jersey City (7%) and Secaucus (4%). In Union City, 7.9% of workers do their job from home.
| Union City | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 7.9% | 17% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Nearly three quarters of adults had a checkup this year in Union City. Of 32 CDC measures, Union City beats the New Jersey average on 2 and trails it on 18. Among adults here, 31% worry about having enough food and 28% say their health is fair or poor.
| Union City | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 22% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 11% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 15% | 19% |
| What stands out | Union City | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.3% | 7.5% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 17.4% | 22.2% |
| More uninsured adults | 27.9% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 25° and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The rate of reported violence in Union City is 2.5 per 1,000 residents. Union City's reported crime rate is close to New Jersey's. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Union City | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.5 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 14 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
56% of Union City’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by heat waves at 16%. Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in 57% of U.S. communities. 8 flood insurance claims have been paid here since 1978.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For Union City, the typical rent is $1,537 a month. In the year to September 2026, typical home values climbed 5%. A home in Union City typically sold within 93 days of listing.
| Union City | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 19% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,537 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 53% | 52% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
139 within 15 miles of the center of Union City
About 6 of every 100 Union City residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
29 notable people were born in Union City.
City in Hudson County, New Jersey, US
Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 18th-most-populous municipality, with a population of 68,589, an increase of 2,134 (+3.2%) from the 2010 census count of 66,455, which in turn had reflected a decline of 633 (−0.9%) from the 67,088 counted in the 2000 census. As of the 2010 Census, among cities with a population of more than 50,000, it was the most densely populated city in the United States, with a density of 54,138 per square mile of land. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 65,366 in 2022, ranking the city the 590t…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Union City.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union City | #399 | C− | D | — | B− | C |
| North Bergen Township | #375 | C− | D− | B | D | B− |
| Weehawken Township | #244 | B | D− | B− | B− | A+ |
| Jersey City | #396 | C− | D− | C− | C− | A− |
| West New York | #432 | D | D | C+ | C− | C+ |
| Hoboken | #238 | B | D− | C+ | B | A+ |
Union City reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Union City with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Union City grades C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns and #399 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades C 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.
29 notable people were born here, including Bobby Cannavale and AJ Lee.
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