Upper Saddle River: New Jersey’s Most Affluent Town

Don’t look for sidewalks in Upper Saddle River; there aren’t any. There’s no real downtown either. “It’s like country living,” says Dana Kinni, a sales associate at the local Coldwell Banker.

Situated just south of the New York border, Upper Saddle River is a five-square-mile town whose residents—many of whom are doctors, Wall Street professionals and successful entrepreneurs—are the most affluent in New Jersey, with a median household income of $180,429, according to the 2011 U.S. Census American Community Survey.

The town—not to be confused with Saddle River, which it borders to the south—stretches across rolling hills where apple groves and strawberries fields once flourished. Folks from more urban parts of New Jersey would escape to the area to enjoy the pastoral scene, including Anona Lake, a man-made recreation site in the northwestern part of town.

Today, there is a mix of older and newer homes, from sprawling estates to manicured townhouses, as well as the private community that sprang up on Anona Lake. “You have every type of home you can imagine,” says Kinni.

From 2010 to 2012, the median home sales price dropped 10 percent to $802,500, but that doesn’t mean homes are losing value. “It’s the big rush of first-time home-buyers,” says Kinni. These buyers are grabbing Upper Saddle River’s less-expensive homes.

Property taxes are substantial—the average 2012 tax bill was $16,116—but hardly the highest in the state. Schools are excellent; kids attend Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, which ranked No. 22 on New Jersey Monthly’s 2012 list of the state’s top high schools.

Overlapping the town’s western border is the private Apple Ridge Country Club; the historic Celery Farm, now a wetland with walking trails, is nearby in Allendale.