Where North Arlington Sits
The borough sits in Bergen County between the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers, about 10 miles west of Manhattan, across roughly three square miles. It is home to Holy Cross Cemetery, a 150-acre site on the borough’s western edge; the number of people interred there outnumbers living residents by roughly 20 to 1, according to Apartment List.
What It Actually Costs to Own or Rent Here
None of the major aggregator guides to this town publish a property tax figure, a real gap in a state that carries the highest property taxes in the country. The table below fills it.
| Cost component | Amount | Source | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median purchase price | $695,000 | Redfin | Dec 2025 |
| General property tax rate | 2.442 per $100 assessed value | NJ Patch, citing NJ Division of Taxation | 2024 rate table |
| Estimated annual tax at median price | ≈$16,970 | Calculated from the two rows above | – |
| 30-year fixed mortgage rate | 6.49% | Freddie Mac PMMS | Week of July 9, 2026 |
| NJ Realty Transfer Fee, seller-paid | ≈$5,200 to $5,900 on a $650,000 to $700,000 sale | NJ REALTORS® RTF calculator | 2026 rate schedule |
This tax line changes the math on this town more than any commute statistic does: at 2.442 per $100, a buyer stretching to the median price commits to a bill north of $16,000 a year before a single mortgage payment.
How high are property taxes here vs. the rest of Bergen County? North Arlington’s 2.442 general rate sits below the county’s roughly 2.73% average effective rate and far below Bogota’s 4.294, though it is well above Alpine’s 0.790, the county’s lowest.
The Investment Case: Yield, Cap Rate, and the Market Read
Weighing the December 2025 median price of $695,000 against the March 2026 median asking rent of $2,200 a month puts gross annual yield at 3.8%. That figure sits before property tax, insurance, and vacancy, all of which cut into it; the tax line above alone consumes roughly a quarter of a full year’s gross rent on a median-priced purchase.
Buyer’s or Seller’s Market Right Now
Days-on-market figures diverge sharply by source and month: Redfin reported homes selling after 75 days in December 2025, nearly double the 41 days recorded a year earlier, while Movoto reported a median of 26 days in June 2026 and Homes.com reported 36 days on its own snapshot. Set against the Otteau Group’s independent hot-market ranking from May 2026 and the accelerating price gains reported by Homes.com (+11% year over year) and Redfin (+8.6%), the evidence points to a market that tightened through the first half of 2026 after a slower late-2025 stretch.
Is North Arlington a buyer’s or seller’s market right now? By mid-2026, seller’s: multiple independent sources report shrinking days on market and rising prices, and the town ranks in the top 15 hottest markets statewide.
Housing Stock: Single-Family, Two-to-Four Family, and Condo
| Housing type | Share of units | Financing/investment note |
|---|---|---|
| Duplex, converted, or small multi-family | 39.26% | Typically needs 2 to 4 unit residential financing, not standard single-family underwriting |
| Single-family detached | 35.61% | Standard conventional or FHA financing applies |
| Large apartment complex or high-rise | 20.36% | Rental stock, not typically owner-purchasable |
| Row house or other attached | 4.77% | Smaller pool, financing similar to single-family |
Source for all rows: NeighborhoodScout, 2026.
Nearly 40% of the town’s housing stock is already multi-family before large complexes are even counted, and that share is the single most decision-relevant fact here for an investor, a detail none of the major aggregator guides to this town mention.
Is this a good town for a 2-4 family investment property? The housing stock itself makes the case: converted and duplex-style multi-family homes already make up 39.26% of all units, more than any other category, so financing and management practices for this property type are well established locally rather than unusual.
Schools, By School and Outcome
The district runs four elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. The elementary picture varies by building: Susan B. Anthony Elementary rates 7 out of 10 on GreatSchools, above the district’s own 6-out-of-10 average, which itself places the district in the top half of New Jersey districts. The strongest evidence sits at the high school level: North Arlington High School reports a 94.9% four-year graduation rate and a 0.4% dropout rate, both well ahead of typical statewide figures, according to SchoolDigger. The one caveat sits in classroom size: the district’s student-teacher ratio runs 13:1, slightly above the New Jersey state average of 12:1.
Safety, By Crime Category
| Metric | North Arlington | National, 2024 FBI data | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime rate | 1.897 per 1,000 | 2.18 per 1,000 | CrimeGrade / USAFacts |
| Property crime rate | 14.62 per 1,000 | 14.27 per 1,000 | CrimeGrade / USAFacts |
| Violent-crime safety percentile | 79th (safer than 79% of US cities) | – | CrimeGrade, 2025 |
| Property-crime safety percentile | 40th (safer than 40% of US cities) | – | CrimeGrade, 2025 |
The split matters here: North Arlington runs below the national violent crime rate but slightly above it on property crime, a distinction a single blended score would erase.
Flood Risk and Insurance
North Arlington sits between two rivers, and the data reflects it: 19% of all properties in the borough, 584 parcels, face major flood risk over the next 30 years, according to First Street Foundation modeling reported through Redfin. Most standard homeowners insurance excludes flood damage entirely, making a separate National Flood Insurance Program or private flood policy a real, easily overlooked line item for a meaningful share of buyers here.
Does North Arlington flood? Not universally, but not negligibly either: nearly 1 in 5 properties carries a major flood-risk rating over a 30-year horizon, tied to the borough’s position between the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers.
Who It Fits, and Who Should Look Elsewhere
- Fits a multi-family investor. With 39.26% of the housing stock already duplex or converted multi-family, financing and property management norms are well established.
- Fits a NYC commuter tolerant of a bus-and-rail transfer. Kingsland and Lyndhurst NJ Transit stations sit under 2.5 miles away, routing through Secaucus Junction to Penn Station.
- Does not fit a buyer who needs a one-seat rail ride to Manhattan. Both nearby stations require a transfer.
- Does not fit a buyer unwilling to budget for flood insurance. The 19% major-risk share is a real underwriting cost.
- Does not fit a buyer chasing the lowest Bergen County tax bill. At 2.442 per $100, North Arlington sits mid-pack, not near Alpine or Palisades Park.
Buying and Selling Here: NJ-Specific Rules
New Jersey gives both parties a standard 3-business-day attorney review period after a contract is signed, during which either side’s attorney can modify or cancel the deal, per Agarunov Law. The Realty Transfer Fee, paid by the seller at closing, runs roughly $5,200 to $5,900 on a home at the current median price. A 2024 state law also changed how buyer representation works here, covered in the question below.
Do I need a signed buyer agreement to tour homes in NJ now? Yes. Since August 1, 2024, New Jersey’s Real Estate Consumer Protection Enhancement Act (P.L. 2024, c.32) has required a written brokerage services agreement before an agent can show a buyer a property, and it also requires sellers to disclose flood risk on the Property Condition Disclosure Statement.
Getting Around
NJ Transit’s Kingsland station sits under 2 miles from the borough, and the Lyndhurst station is about 2.5 miles out; both connect to New York Penn Station via Secaucus Junction. Newark Liberty International Airport is roughly 10 to 13 miles away depending on the starting point within the borough.
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