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Compare the eight Northern Valley towns

Prices, schools, the commute, taxes, who runs the town, and how it votes. Everything in one table, so you are not opening eight tabs.

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Town Closter The town the other seven drive to Demarest The biggest houses and the biggest tax bill Haworth Reservoir on one side, two golf courses, one-lane bridge Harrington Park A high rate on low assessments, and nobody runs on a party line Old Tappan Big lots, the lowest tax rate, and the high school five towns attend Norwood North woods, one school, and a hundred acres kept open Northvale The cheapest way into the Northern Valley Rockleigh 406 people, a corporate park and the county golf course
The basics
Type Borough Borough Borough Borough Borough Borough Borough Borough
Population 8,730 (2024 est.) 4,941 (2024 est.) 3,450 (2024 est.) 5,088 (2024 est.) 6,342 (2024 est.) 5,854 (2024 est.) 4,979 (2024 est.) 406 (2024 est.)
Area 3.302 sq mi 2.079 sq mi 2.335 sq mi 2.063 sq mi 4.163 sq mi 2.794 sq mi 1.268 sq mi 1.01 sq mi
Incorporated 1904 1903 1904 1904 1894 1905 1916 1923
Housing and commute
Typical home price $890k - $1.8M $1.1M - $2.5M $950k - $1.7M $820k - $1.2M $905k - $1.8M $690k - $1.4M $665k - $910k —
Train station Emerson or Oradell, Pascack Valley Line (~3.5-3.9 mi) Oradell or Emerson, Pascack Valley Line (~3.9-4.1 mi) Emerson or Oradell, Pascack Valley Line (~1.8 mi) — closest to rail of the eight Emerson or Westwood, Pascack Valley Line (~2.7 mi) Montvale, Pascack Valley Line (~2.6 mi) Emerson, Pascack Valley Line (~4.2 mi) Montvale, Pascack Valley Line (~4.6 mi) Emerson, Pascack Valley Line (~5.2 mi)
Commute No train. GWB about 10.3 mi No train. GWB about 8.9 mi No train. GWB about 10.2 mi No train. GWB about 12.2 mi No train. Drive or bus to the GWB No train. Drive or bus to the GWB No train. Drive or bus to the GWB No train. Drive or bus to the GWB
Schools
K-8 district Closter Public School District (Hillside PK-4, Tenakill 5-8) Demarest School District (County Road PK-1, Luther Lee Emerson 2-4, Demarest MS 5-8) Haworth Public School District (PK-8, single school) Harrington Park School District (PK-8, single school) Old Tappan Public School District (T. Baldwin Demarest PK-4, Charles DeWolf 5-8) Norwood Public School District (PK-8, single school) Northvale Public School District (PK-8, also receives Rockleigh pupils) None — non-operating district; pupils attend Northvale Public School
High school Northern Valley Regional HS at Demarest Northern Valley Regional HS at Demarest Northern Valley Regional HS at Demarest Northern Valley Regional HS at Old Tappan Northern Valley Regional HS at Old Tappan Northern Valley Regional HS at Old Tappan Northern Valley Regional HS at Old Tappan Northern Valley Regional HS at Old Tappan
High school district Northern Valley Regional Northern Valley Regional Northern Valley Regional Northern Valley Regional Northern Valley Regional Northern Valley Regional Northern Valley Regional Northern Valley Regional
Taxes
Average residential tax bill $19,574 (2025) $26,112 (2025) $21,262 (2025) $17,840 (2025) $19,377 (2025) $16,196 (2025) $13,446 (2025) $13,615 (2025)
Effective tax rate 2.017% 1.924% 2.185% 2.286% 1.785% 2.054% 2.266% 0.871%
Average assessed value $944,688 $1,446,665 $659,285 $545,400 $825,978 $560,028 $404,035 $1,622,707
Income and households
Median household income $190,469 $208,036 $236,765 $180,500 $205,385 $178,311 $127,625 —
Median family income $194,375 — $243,971 $200,000 $213,125 $194,750 $136,875 $221,250
Median home value $871,300 $1,114,600 $845,300 $776,900 $951,300 $709,100 $592,400 —
Median rent $2,721 — — $1,414 — $2,094 $1,932 —
Own their home 81.5% 94.3% 94.7% 92.3% 94.1% 79.2% 76.3% 78.8%
Average household size 3.21 2.93 3.17 2.80 3.10 2.82 2.82 2.75
School performance
High school ELA, grade 9 79.9% 79.9% 79.9% 76.0% 76.0% 76.0% 76.0% 76.0%
High school math, Algebra I 63.5% 63.5% 63.5% 56.6% 56.6% 56.6% 56.6% 56.6%
Graduation rate 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 98.0% 98.0% 98.0% 98.0% 98.0%
Mean SAT 636 math / 629 reading 636 math / 629 reading 636 math / 629 reading 619 math / 619 reading 619 math / 619 reading 619 math / 619 reading 619 math / 619 reading 619 math / 619 reading
Lower-grade ELA 81.0% 83.1% 84.1% 75.7% 80.7% 75.7% 73.5% —
Lower-grade math 75.0% 79.3% 79.0% 77.8% 74.7% 66.2% 63.3% —
Who lives here
White, not Hispanic or Latino 48.8% 68.4% 62.1% 68.5% 49.0% 55.9% 47.5% 81.3%
Asian (any ethnicity) 31.0% 19.8% 14.8% 21.8% 41.1% 30.7% 36.8% 6.3%
Hispanic or Latino, any race 11.1% 6.0% 10.3% 6.7% 4.5% 10.5% 13.5% 5.2%
Black (any ethnicity) 2.0% 4.8% 2.7% 0.0% 3.2% 1.2% 0.4% 3.3%
Two or more races 10.6% 1.8% 16.9% 6.5% 4.5% 10.1% 10.9% 7.8%
Born outside the US 32.4% 24.4% 23.4% 17.8% 29.6% 29.1% 34.8% 13.3%
Speak a language other than English at home 49.3% 30.4% 29.2% 26.4% 40.8% 37.7% 50.7% 11.4%
Local government
Mayor John C. Glidden Jr. (Republican) Brian K. Bernstein (Democrat) Heather J. Wasser Joon L. Chung Thomas E. Gallagher (Republican) James P. Barsa (Republican) Joseph E. McGuire (Republican) James G. Pontone (Republican)
Term ends December 2026 December 2026 December 2026 December 2027 December 2027 December 2027 December 2026 December 2026
Governing body Borough form: mayor plus 6-member council Borough form: mayor plus 6-member council Borough form: mayor plus 6-member council Borough form: mayor plus 6-member council Borough form: mayor plus 6-member council Borough form: mayor plus 6-member council Borough form: mayor plus 6-member council Borough form: mayor plus 6-member council
Council makeup 4 Republicans, 2 Democrats 4 Democrats, 1 Republican, 1 seat with no published party 4 Democrats, 1 Republican, 1 seat with no published party Nonpartisan in practice — all six members elected by petition, no party line 5 Republicans, 1 seat with no published party 3 Republicans, 3 Democrats 6 Republicans 6 Republicans
Town hall 201-784-0600 201-768-0167 201-384-4785 201-768-1700 201-664-1849 201-767-7200 201-767-3330 201-768-4217
Public library Closter Public Library (BCCLS) Demarest Public Library (BCCLS) Haworth Municipal Library (BCCLS, in Borough Hall) Harrington Park Public Library (BCCLS) Old Tappan Public Library (association library, BCCLS) Norwood Public Library (BCCLS) Northvale Public Library (BCCLS) None
How the town votes
2024 president, Dem 55.9% 60.3% 61.7% 55.0% 43.1% 51.1% 44.8% 40.0%
2024 president, Rep 42.6% 38.2% 36.9% 43.7% 55.1% 47.4% 53.8% 58.2%
Registered voters 6,055 (Nov 2025) 3,667 (Nov 2025) 2,798 (Nov 2025) 3,954 (Nov 2025) 4,947 (Nov 2025) 4,471 (Nov 2025) 3,637 (Nov 2025) 235 (Nov 2025)

About the school figures. These are district-level results from the New Jersey Department of Education, 2024-25. Several towns share a high school, so their figures match: Closter, Demarest and Haworth attend Northern Valley Regional at Demarest; Harrington Park, Northvale, Norwood, Old Tappan and Rockleigh attend Northern Valley Regional at Old Tappan. Proficiency is the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations on the state test. High school figures use grade 9 ELA and Algebra I. Both Northern Valley high schools are 9 to 12, so the figures are directly comparable. Seven towns run their own K-8 district; Rockleigh runs no school at all and its pupils attend Northvale. For reference, the 2024-25 state mean SAT was 519 math and 533 reading and writing.

About the census figures. Published by the US Census Bureau (ACS 2020-2024 5-Year), shown here as reported. Hispanic or Latino is an ethnicity the Census counts separately from race, so that row overlaps the others and the column does not total 100%. The White figure excludes Hispanic respondents; the Asian, Black and two-or-more-races figures include people of any ethnicity. These are survey estimates and carry margins of error, published alongside each figure at the source.

Civic and election figures verified October 2026. Mayors, councils and tax bills change — check the town's own site before relying on them.

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