Closter
The town the other seven drive to
Closter is the largest of the eight towns and the one the rest of the Northern Valley drives to. Closter Plaza, rebuilt in 2016 around a Whole Foods and a Target, is the closest thing the region has to a commercial center, and Closter Dock Road adds a second strip of everyday shops. It is also the only one of the eight with a 136-acre nature preserve inside its own borders. The tradeoff is traffic and a tax bill that runs third-highest of the eight.
- The retail center of the Northern Valley. The other seven towns shop here
- Closter Nature Center is about 136 acres of ponds, brooks, meadows and woods, inside the borough
- Largest of the eight at 8,730 people, which means more traffic than its neighbors
- Korean groceries, bakeries and restaurants are part of the everyday shopping, not a special trip
Getting to the city
Emerson or Oradell, Pascack Valley Line (~3.5-3.9 mi)
There is no passenger rail in Closter. The nearest NJ Transit station is Emerson or Oradell, Pascack Valley Line (~3.5-3.9 mi).
NJ Transit bus: 167, 177 to Port Authority (7 stops on Schraalenburgh Rd).
Commuter bus: Rockland Coaches 20/20T to Port Authority.
The George Washington Bridge is about 10.3 miles by road.
What you will find
The average residential assessment is $944,688 and the average tax bill $19,574 (2025), an effective rate of 2.017%.
Census ACS puts the median home value at $871,300, with 81.5% of households owning their home.
Northern Valley Regional
- K-8
- Closter Public School District (Hillside PK-4, Tenakill 5-8)
- High school
- Northern Valley Regional HS at Demarest
Closter high schoolers attend Northern Valley Regional HS at Demarest, part of the Northern Valley Regional High School District. In 2024-25 it recorded 79.9% proficiency in grade 9 English and 63.5% in Algebra I, with a 100.0% graduation rate and mean SAT scores of 636 math / 629 reading. The state means were 50.0% grade 9 English, 38.1% Algebra I and 519 math / 533 reading. K-8 is Closter Public School District (Hillside PK-4, Tenakill 5-8), which recorded 81.0% proficiency in English and 75.0% in maths district-wide.
What people wish they knew
- No train. Emerson and Oradell on the Pascack Valley Line are both about 3.5 to 3.9 miles away, in somebody else's town.
- One of only three of the eight with any NJ Transit bus service. The 167 and 177 make seven stops on Schraalenburgh Road.
- The average tax bill is $19,574, third-highest of the eight, at an effective rate of 2.017%.
- High school is Northern Valley Regional at Demarest, not in Closter.
- If you want quiet, this is the wrong one of the eight. Demarest, Haworth and Old Tappan are quieter by a wide margin.