​Best Places To Live, Work, Play In NJ: 2025 Recap

Some of the best places to live in the country are towns and cities in New Jersey, according to a handful of national rankings released in 2025 that look at quality of life indicators.

There is no single quality that makes a town or city a great place to live. High-quality schools, hospitals and medical facilities, and a robust cultural and dining scene all matter. So do good jobs and places to play and have fun.

Publications such as U.S. News & World Report, Forbes and Fortune and the ratings and review site Niche used different methodologies to compile their lists on the best places to live. Read more about why New Jersey's cities and towns were mentioned.

According to the U.S. News & World Report, the the Top 14 Places To Live In NJ include Clifton, Vineland, Jersey City, Bayonne, Elizabeth, Passaic, Union City, New Brunswick, East Orange, Paterson, Newark, Trenton, Camden, and Atlantic City.

Niche also listed the Top 100 Places To Live In New Jersey. Here are the top 10 that made the list with overall A+ ratings: Ho-Ho-Kus, Princeton, Ridgewood, River Edge, Princeton Junction, Harrington Park, Haworth, Summit, Hoboken, and Mountain Lakes.

Looking at safety, four New Jersey suburbs are among the 360 safest in the country, and two of them are among the top 20, according to a new ranking by America’s Safest Suburbs of communities based on low crime and other significant safety criteria families consider when choosing a place to live.

The suburbs that made the list include Edgewater, Fort Lee, Hoboken, and Williamstown.

If you are looking for wealth, the GOBankingRates ranking of America’s 50 Wealthiest Suburbs listed five New Jersey towns, including Summit, Tenafly, Westfield, Ridgewood, and Princeton.

Now if you are looking to settle down in the Garden State, Camden was listed at The Cheapest Place In NJ To Buy A House, according to GoBanking Rates.

Generally speaking, great workplaces are those where employees feel respected and valued, have growth opportunities and competitive salaries, and work–life balance is more than a slogan. Here’s where various New Jersey employers rank in issues that matter to their workers:

Fortune listed 8 New Jersey Companies Among Best Places To Work including Alumni Staffing LLC (Bridgewater); Enovate Consulting, LLC (Cranford); Keasis Inc (Hoboken); Insmed (Bridgewater); Victory Home Remodeling (Holmdel); Coaction Specialty (Morristown); Gibbons P.C. (Newark); and HR Acuity(Florham Park).

Forbes also ranked the Top 10 Employers in NJ with Wegmans taking the top spot. Other companies in the Garden State that made the list include Grainger; Lockheed Martin, Aerospace & Defense; Fidelity Investments, Banking & Financial Services; Exelon; Google; Johnson & Johnson; Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey; IBM; and Apple.