NJ's Top 25 Towns On NJ Monthly 2019 List (And Homes For Sale)

NEW JERSEY – Where is the best place to live in New Jersey? New Jersey Monthly has an idea.

The publication has released its "Top Towns" chart as part of the "Best Places to Live" cover story in the September issue. Patch has the top 25 along with homes that just became available in each community (see list below).

Madison, which didn't even crack the top 20 in the 2017 survey, was ranked number 1 in the 2019 rankings, perhaps boosted by a 12 percent rise in its median home price since 2016.

Ho-Ho-Kus, which ranked number 1 on the chart in 2011 and in 2017, fell all the way to 58th this year, according to a New Jersey Monthly release.

New Jersey Monthly’s 2019 Top Towns list was compiled by researchers at Leflein Associates, an independent firm based in Ringwood. The firm considered five categories to represent the quality of life in New Jersey’s 565 municipalities: home values, property taxes, crime rate, school performance and a lifestyle factor.

Because of a lack of statistically significant data, towns with populations under 1,500 were dropped from the survey, according to New Jersey Monthly.

The research team ranked each of the 513 towns based on: average residential tax bill (2018); change in average property tax bill (2016-2018); effective property tax rate for 2018; median home-sales price (2018); change in median home-sales price (2016-2018); and other factors.

"Our goal in creating the Top Towns chart is to reflect the dynamics of the marketplace and the desirability of each town, based on objective data. What we can't take into account are all those subjective factors—like the beauty of our neighborhoods, or the friendliness of our neighbors," according to the publication.

Here are the top 25 towns (click on the town to find homes in the area that were just listed for sale, courtesy of Realtor.com):

1. Madison (Morris)
2. Summit (Union)
3. Bedminster (Somerset)
4. Bernards (Somerset)
5. Chatham Township (Morris)
6. Harding (Morris)
7. Woodcliff Lake (Bergen)
8. Chatham Borough (Morris)
9. Mountainside (Union)
10. Closter (Bergen)
11. Mahwah (Bergen)
12. Fairfield (Essex)
13. Avon-by-the-Sea (Monmouth)
14. Roseland (Essex)
15. Lebanon Borough (Hunterdon)
16. Marlboro (Monmouth)
17. Pennington (Mercer)
18. Westwood (Bergen)
19. Washington Township (Bergen)
20. Oceanport (Monmouth)
21. Fair Haven (Monmouth)
22. Alpine (Bergen)
23. Berkeley Heights (Union)
24. Point Pleasant (Ocean)
25. East Hanover (Morris)

Read the entire New Jersey Monthly rankings of 513 towns here.