Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Wood-Ridge grades A overall, 104th among New Jersey's 466 graded towns. It is among the most walkable places in the country. It is healthier than 96% of U.S. towns and the median household earns $136K. The trade-off is money: homes are expensive, about $709K for a typical one and 7.2 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. On the outdoors, just 16 of New Jersey’s 530 towns do worse. Wood-Ridge has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Brinkerhoff House and Fridolin Arnault House. Among 468 New Jersey towns, just 5 have a lower share of working residents who work in town than Wood-Ridge.
Where Wood-Ridge beats most towns.
7,626 counted in 2010 and 10,137 in 2020; an estimated 10,341 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Wood-Ridge is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 13%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 348 in 1880, 10,137 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1792 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Wood-Ridge. Close and well known come first.
Big draw3 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw8 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw8 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw8 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaYankee StadiumMetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Central 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 · 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 Wood-Ridge, 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 Wood-Ridge.
Wood-Ridge is healthier than Hasbrouck Heights and its other neighbors and sees little violent crime.
That grade tops all 5 graded neighbors; Hasbrouck Heights (A) comes closest.
9.7% of Wood-Ridge adults report frequent physical distress, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 12% and U.S. towns at 14%. The share of adults in Wood-Ridge who smoke cigarettes: 8.4%. CDC measures, 32 in all: Wood-Ridge beats New Jersey on 17 and trails on 1. In Wood-Ridge, 15% of adults have been diagnosed with depression, and 25% have obesity.
| Wood-Ridge | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 12% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 28% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 7.7% | 9.7% | 12% |
| What stands out | Wood-Ridge | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.4% | 14.3% |
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 7.7% | 10.9% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 73.7% | 77.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Wood-Ridge School District. Two of the 3 schools are below, and why each made the list. The largest public high school is Wood-Ridge Jr/Sr High School, with 554 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catherine E. Doyle Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–3 | Grades PK–3 | 479 | B+ |
| Wood-Ridge Jr/Sr High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 554 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Violent crime is rare: 6 reported in 2025, 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
In Wood-Ridge, the property offense rate is 5.1 per 1,000 residents, below both New Jersey’s towns (7.5) and U.S. towns (9.9). The town’s rate of reported violence stands at 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Wood-Ridge | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The top destinations are New York (23%), Jersey City (4%) and Hackensack (4%). Most people who work leave Wood-Ridge to do it: just 2% work in town. Employers in Wood-Ridge shed 316 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 1,696. For Wood-Ridge, the mean commuting time is 33 minutes.
| Wood-Ridge | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $136,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 17% | 16% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.9% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical rent in Wood-Ridge is $1,878 a month. Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 6% in value. Also worth knowing: 67% of Wood-Ridge households live in a home they own.
| Wood-Ridge | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,878 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 67% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 23° and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
On expected storm and flood damage, Wood-Ridge sits below 55% of U.S. communities. Paid flood insurance claims locally since 1978: 42. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 62% come from inland flooding and 14% from coastal flooding. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Wood-Ridge after 11 declared disasters, most recently in 2021.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Wood-Ridge has one park or preserve, 1 acres in all.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Veterans Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
103 within 15 miles of the center of Wood-Ridge
About 9 of every 100 Wood-Ridge residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
Coastal flooding makes up 14% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
2 places in Wood-Ridge on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Wood-Ridge.
Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, US
Wood-Ridge 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 10,137, an increase of 2,511 (+32.9%) from the 2010 census count of 7,626, which in turn reflected a decline of 18 (-0.2%) from the 7,644 counted in the 2000 census. Wood-Ridge was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on December 6, 1894, from portions of Bergen Township, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day. The borough was formed during the "Boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County, in which 26 boroughs were formed in the county in 1894 alone.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Wood-Ridge.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood-Ridge | #104 | A | D | A | B | A+ |
| Moonachie | #170 | A− | C | B+ | B+ | B+ |
| Carlstadt | #291 | B− | D | B | B− | A− |
| Hasbrouck Heights | #63 | A | D | A | B+ | A |
| Wallington | #297 | B− | D | B− | B | A− |
| South Hackensack Township | #377 | C− | D− | D | B+ | B |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Wood-Ridge grades A overall, better than 89% of U.S. towns and #104 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A+ for health, A for safety 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.
3 notable people were born here, including Frankie Muñiz and John Delaney.
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