In a recent study, we analyzed and identified the richest cities in New York state based on scoring several key financial factors. This time around, we’re looking at New York’s neighbor to the south — New Jersey, the Garden State.
We analyzed over 700 cities in the state in order to identify the richest cities in New Jersey. The way we evaluated and scored each city’s ranking is detailed below. Read on to find out what the richest city in New Jersey is, plus the top 50 wealthiest cities in the state overall.
What Is the Richest City in New Jersey?
In order to assemble a list of the richest cities in New Jersey, we pulled data from the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, and we constructed a four-factor scoring system to help identify the wealthiest cities in New Jersey:
- Median household income
- Mean (average) household income
- Median home value
- Median property taxes paid
When it comes to Census data, for certain factors its numbers have upper limits. For example, for median household income, the Census Bureau has an upper limit of “$250,000+”. For median home value, the upper limit is “$2,000,000+”. And, lastly, for median property taxes paid, the upper limit is “$10,000+”. For these reasons, the mean or average household income dataset is crucial because the Census Bureau has exact figures for it. All four of these metrics were scored, added up, and then ranked by the cities’ combined scores.
Below you’ll find a table detailing the top 50 richest cities in New Jersey and their respective dollar figures for each metric:
The No. 1 richest city in New Jersey in our ranking is Rockleigh, a very small town of just 74 households, situated in the far north of the Garden State, along the border with New York state. It borders Palisades, New York, whose name comes from the steep cliffs of the eastern bank of the Hudson River, which resemble palisades. Not surprisingly for the richest city in New Jersey, according to Data USA, the main occupation by employment is Management Occupations, accounting for 31.5% of the workforce. The top three industries in Rockleigh are Health Care & Social Assistance (21.3% of the workforce), Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services (20.4% of the workforce), and Construction (10.2% of the workforce). The median household income in Rockleigh is $201,500, while its average household income is the second highest out of the 700+ cities in New York we analyzed, at $413,309. The reported median home value in Rockleigh exceeds $2 million and the median property taxes paid by households is in excess of $10,000 per year.
The second richest city in New Jersey is Saddle River, which, like Rockleigh, is located in Bergen County, not far from New York state. What is particular cool about Saddle River is that it has retained a very rustic, natural appearance, filled with forests, rivers, and farmland. The median home value in Saddle River is a little over $1.94 million, and its median property taxes paid exceeds the limit of $10,000. Similarly, the median household income in Saddle River also exceeds the $250,000 Census Bureau limit. Saddle River has an average household income of $330,303 and is notably much larger than No. 1 Rockleigh, having more than 1,300 total households. Compared to some of the other richest cities in New Jersey, the top industries in Saddle River are an interesting mix: Health Care & Social Assistance (20.2% of the workforce), Wholesale Trade (11.1% of the workforce), and Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services (10.4% of the workforce), according to Data USA.
Coming in as the No. 3 richest city in New Jersey is Short Hills, a sizable unincorporated community of more than 4,500 households, located in Essex County, which is notably the county with the highest income inequality in New Jersey. Like Saddle River, the median household income in Short Hills is over $250,000 and the median property taxes paid also exceeds the Census Bureau’s upper limit of $10,000. Short Hills stands out the most by having the highest average household income in New Jersey, at $428,352. Meanwhile, its reported median home value is nearly $1.39 million.
Out of the top 50 richest cities in New Jersey, the largest is Westfield, which has 10,514 households. Westfield, like many of the wealthiest cities in New Jersey, is in the New York City metro area, located in Union County. The median household income in Westfield is $185,319, while its mean household income is $259,377. Although its median home value is only $810,400, the median property taxes paid in Westfield still exceeds $10,000 because New Jersey has notoriously high property tax rates.