{"id":290977,"date":"2026-09-21T18:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T18:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/290977\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T18:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T18:00:13","slug":"is-this-really-new-jerseys-best-places-to-live-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/290977\/","title":{"rendered":"Is this really New Jersey\u2019s ‘best places to live’ list?"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. News and World Report put out their 2026-2027 rankings of the best places to live in New Jersey and I think it\u2019s improperly titled.<\/p>\n

Meaning I could accept the findings if it were titled “Best Gritty, Urban Areas To Live.”<\/p>\n

When part of the methodology here was value with home costs and jobs, guess what?<\/p>\n

Yes, you may have more jobs in a larger city and the more urban an area is the lower the rents and mortgages may be.<\/p>\n

But, is that where most people dream of living?<\/p>\n

\"CamdenCamden NJ waterfront (Photo by Salonagility.com Daniel on Unsplash)Camden NJ waterfront (Photo by Salonagility.com Daniel on Unsplash)<\/p>\n

For example, Camden is #12 on the list for best places to live. Where the median rent is $995 a month.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth is #7. I grew up in Union County. Westfield would be the desirable town.<\/p>\n

No one I knew dreamed of living in Elizabeth. Granted there are good schools there. But neighborhoods can be very run down and parking and traffic problematic.<\/p>\n

\"aPhoto by Samuel Girven<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>a group of cars on a streetAffordability isn\u2019t always the same as desirability<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t said with snobbery. I grew up in Rahway. My family was poor, not middle-class.<\/p>\n

All I\u2019m saying is when people I know think of best places to live, they think of Princeton, Spring Lake, Colts Neck.<\/p>\n

\"Princeton\"Princeton NJ ( SooWan Jang on Unsplash)Princeton<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not thinking of Atlantic City, Vineland, or Paterson. All made the top 14.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the full list from U.S. News and World Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AtlanticAtlantic City, NJ ( Photo by Chermel Porter on Unsplash)Atlantic City, NJ ( Photo by Chermel Porter on Unsplash)14) Atlantic City<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $39,913
Median Home Value: $217,408<\/p>\n

13) Trenton<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $50,390
Median Home Value: $192,948<\/p>\n

12) Camden<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $43,868
Median Home Value: $131,567<\/p>\n

11) Newark<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $54,053
Median Home Value: $396,967<\/p>\n

10) New Brunswick<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $69,859
Median Home Value: $385,638<\/p>\n

\"PatersonPaterson, NJ (Robert Thiemann on Unsplash)Paterson Photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash9) Paterson<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $61,736
Median Home Value: $406,268<\/p>\n

8) East Orange<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $65,350
Median Home Value: $367,944<\/p>\n

7) Elizabeth<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $71,013
Median Home Value: $453,368<\/p>\n

\"PassaicPassaic, NJ (Google Maps)Passaic NJ (Google Maps)6) Passaic<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $65,234
Median Home Value: $457,033<\/p>\n

5) Union City<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $71,382
Median Home Value: $466,516<\/p>\n

4) Vineland<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $72,019
Median Home Value: $230,153<\/p>\n

\"Bayonne,Bayonne, NJ (Photo by Jimmy Hu on Unsplash)Bayonne, NJ (Photo by Jimmy Hu on Unsplash)3) Bayonne<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $85,389
Median Home Value: $464,310<\/p>\n

2) Jersey City<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $103,920
Median Home Value: $564,161<\/p>\n

1) Clifton<\/p>\n

Median Household Income: $105,422
Median Home Value: $463,020<\/p>\n

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff’s own.<\/p>\n

This is how much NJ home prices went up over 24 years, by countyBrace yourself \u2014for each New Jersey county, here’s the median price of new houses in 2000<\/a>, versus 24 years later<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Erin Vogt<\/p>\n

Share of your tax bill going to schools vs. municipality<\/p>\n

How your property tax bill is split up depends on where you live. This is the data from the state for the year 2025. <\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: New Jersey 101.5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. News and World Report put out their 2026-2027 rankings of the best places to live in New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[65001,69,71,70,31736,22960],"class_list":["post-290977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-deminski-moore","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-talking-about","tag-ultimate-new-jersey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}