Woodland Park, New Jersey

Area Profile

13,355 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Woodland Park, in Passaic County.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 34% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 31% of 3,904 published cities65
Schools1557th of 2,668 published cities45
Growth2161st of 2,973 published cities37
Housing affordability2956th of 4,223 published cities67
Climate2724th of 4,223 published cities65
Physical resilience2986th of 4,182 published cities36
AccessTop 33% of 4,226 published cities96
Economic stabilityTop 19% of 4,226 published cities74
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.9% and median household income $98,845, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, earthquake and hurricane.

A major airport is 14 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
13,355
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$98,845
Top 19% nationally
Density
4,543/sq mi
2.9 sq mi of land
Median age
42.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Passaic County
New Jersey
Metro area
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
Nearest major airport
EWR
14 mi · Newark Liberty Intl
Median home value
$497,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 28% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 1.6% over the past year, to 261,567 employed residents.

42% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 83% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,443$98,845Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,478$45,699Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate3.8%Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.9 minBottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher41.7%Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment261,567Top 25%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.8%Top 38%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.6%Top 7%June 2026
Labor force275,096Top 25%June 2026
Labor force participation63.2%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$86,310Top 17%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$61,430Top 19%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.3%Bottom 2%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 28%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202499k85k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $98,845 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides644,700$39,680
Retail Salespersons202,080$38,280
Registered Nurses197,740$119,720
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners183,030$42,840
General and Operations Managers177,850$157,000
Cashiers173,830$35,950

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Passaic County, NJ, which contains this city.

18% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 38% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
17.9%
Bottom 38% in New Jersey
Reading proficiency
37.9%
Bottom 32% in New Jersey
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Passaic Valley Regional High SchoolPassaic Valley Regional High School District1,09313.3
John P. Holland Charter School · charterJohn P Holland Charter School School District78715.711%26%
Charles Olbon SchoolWoodland Park School District40413.0
Little Falls Township Public School # 1Little Falls Township Public School District3929.627%50%
Memorial Middle SchoolWoodland Park School District37410.112%42%
Beatrice Gilmore SchoolWoodland Park School District35912.820%42%
Little Falls Township Public School # 2Little Falls Township Public School District34311.8
Little Falls Township Public School # 3Little Falls Township Public School District21712.832%46%
School OneWoodland Park School District1229.4

48.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against New Jersey’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,839 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.0 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
22.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,839
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$497,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.03Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate63.0%Bottom 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3755,534Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$82$1,839Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$30,791$497,600Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.3%Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2.4%Bottom 17%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
37/ 100
Ranks 2161 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 13,477 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
1
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.1
Bottom 8% nationally
Year over year
0%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202413k13k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420253.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−67%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 23°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 44.9 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 38, in the Good band, and about 2 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CALDWELL ESSEX CO AP, 4.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index61.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation44.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low23°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10022024 calendar year
Median air quality index38.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
38
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
61
90th percentile index
Days above 100
2
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

36 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and hurricane.

Inland floodingElevated
LightningModerate
EarthquakeElevated
HurricaneModerate
LandslideModerate
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, winter weather, heat wave, cold wave, tornado, ice storm, coastal flooding, wildfire, hail, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Passaic County records 3.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 4.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.4 per 100,000 residents in Passaic County.

Homicide
3.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
4.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
5.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Passaic County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Woodland Park rather than Woodland Park itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 14 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Newark Liberty IntlEWR14 mi9,999 ft
John F Kennedy IntlJFK28 mi14,511 ft
New York Stewart IntlSWF43 mi11,817 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
56
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Other cities in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
New YorkNew York County8,483,84464vs Woodland Park
NewarkEssex County310,17849vs Woodland Park
Jersey CityHudson County294,07861vs Woodland Park
YonkersWestchester County209,97862vs Woodland Park
PatersonPassaic County158,73543vs Woodland Park
ElizabethUnion County137,30253vs Woodland Park
Toms RiverOcean County94,956vs Woodland Park
CliftonPassaic County89,37961vs Woodland Park
New RochelleWestchester County82,76966vs Woodland Park
Mount VernonWestchester County72,42756vs Woodland Park
BayonneHudson County71,55354vs Woodland Park
East OrangeEssex County70,09050vs Woodland Park

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Woodland Park

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
0742428,085$105,05058