Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Westwood is one of the best-graded places in America: an A+, 40th among New Jersey's 466 graded towns. The median household earns $166K, it is healthier than 95% of U.S. towns, and crime is low: it reports less per resident than 90% of U.S. towns. The exception is cost of living: homes are expensive, about $769K for a typical one and 7.8 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Westwood’s income of the median household is $166,000, against $113,000 in New Jersey’s towns and $80,000 across U.S. towns. Westwood is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns. Westwood Railroad Station is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Westwood beats most towns.
Where Westwood’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 Westwood is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 7%), so the A+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 828 in 1900, 11,282 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1924 and 6 maps from 1934 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Westwood. Close and well known come first.
Big draw15 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw17 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw16 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw15 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaYankee StadiumCentral Park: Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Madison Square Garden: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 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 · Yankee Stadium: Matt Boulton, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Westwood, 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 Westwood.
Westwood has less food insecurity than most of New Jersey, but it reports more crime than River Vale Township and its other graded neighbors and has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey.
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 8.5% of its 8,982 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide. Against the 1,851 U.S. towns with household incomes like Westwood’s, it is healthier than 69%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Among adults in Westwood, 10% report frequent physical distress. CDC measures, 32 in all: Westwood beats New Jersey on 14 and trails on 1. Two figures for adults in the town: 26% have obesity, 8.3% smoke cigarettes.
| Westwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 16% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 28% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.3% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Westwood | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.5% | 14.3% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 4.7% | 7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.8% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its A− for schools comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $769K.
Of its 4 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason. Its public schools are run by the Westwood Regional School District. The 3 public schools in Westwood teach 1,323 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westwood Regional Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 656 | A− |
| Primoris Academy PrivateLargest high schoolGrades K–11 | Grades K–11 | 112 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Westwood is safe by national standards, yet each of the 3 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from River Vale Township (A+) to Emerson (A+). Violent crime is rare: 9 reported in 2025, 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
Westwood’s property offense rate is 3 per 1,000 residents. Its rate of reported violence is 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Westwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.8 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
For Westwood, the density of trails is 1.1 miles per square mile. In 5 parks and preserves, walkers have 2.5 miles of trail.
| Westwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.1 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 9.5% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Veterans' Memorial Park | 0.4 mi | 4 |
| 2. Gritman Park | 0.2 mi | 4 |
| 3. Brookside Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 7.8 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $769K) costs more against local pay than in 78% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
Westwood: 63% of households own their home. Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 7.4% in value. The rent at the middle of the market in the town is $2,458 a month.
| Westwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,458 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 63% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The top destinations are New York (19%), Paramus (4%) and Hackensack (3%). The average commute for Westwood comes to 28 minutes. For half of commuters, work is under 11 miles away.
| Westwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 19% | 16% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.7% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.1% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Summer afternoons peak near 87° in July, and January nights bottom out around 23°; snowfall runs to about 33 inches a winter. Summers in Westwood are warm, and winters chilly, snowy.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
629 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 107 properties have flooded more than once.
On expected storm and flood damage, Westwood sits above 64% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, Westwood has seen 629 flood insurance claims paid out. Expected losses in Westwood break down as 78% from inland flooding and 7% from earthquakes. Households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid in 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2021.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
60 within 15 miles of the center of Westwood
About 6 of every 100 Westwood residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
10 notable people were born in Westwood.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Westwood (known as "The Hub of the Pascack Valley") is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Westwood is part of the New York metropolitan area. Many of its residents regularly commute to New York City for work and leisure, many using public transportation. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 11,282, an increase of 374 (+3.4%) from the 2010 census count of 10,908, which in turn reflected a decline of 91 (−0.8%) from the 10,999 counted in the 2000 census. Westwood was officially incorporated as a borough on May 8, 1894, from portions of Washington Township, early during the "Boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County, in w…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Westwood.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westwood | #40 | A+ | D | A | A− | A+ |
| River Vale Township | #6 | A+ | C− | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Washington Township | #82 | A | D | — | A− | A+ |
| Hillsdale | #8 | A+ | D | A+ | A− | A+ |
| Emerson | #19 | A+ | D | A+ | B+ | A+ |
Washington Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Westwood with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Westwood grades A+ overall, better than 95% of U.S. towns and #40 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A+ for health, A 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.
10 notable people were born here, including James Gandolfini and Robert Sean Leonard.
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