Ask where the luxury market lives in New Jersey and you get vague answers: “the suburbs,” “up north,” “near the city.” The real answer is more specific. A handful of Bergen County boroughs hold most of the state’s estate market, and they sit within a 20-minute drive of each other. I work in all of them, and they are far less interchangeable than the listings make them look.
Here are the five I take luxury buyers to first, with the honest differences between them.
Alpine: the most expensive ZIP code in the state
Alpine’s 07620 has ranked as New Jersey’s costliest ZIP code in nine of the last ten years. The 2025 median home price of $4.35 million ties Beverly Hills’ 90210. A French chateau on Rio Vista Drive recently sold for $17.7 million, a state record. Chris Rock, a longtime resident, once called it “like Beverly Hills with freaking snow.” Jay-Z, Patrick Ewing, and Lil’ Kim have all owned here.
What the price buys is privacy. Homes sit behind gates and hedgerows on a wooded plateau above the Palisades, the borough reported zero violent crimes in the most recent data year, and the George Washington Bridge is 13 minutes down Route 9W. Alpine properties often trade quietly, sometimes without a public listing at all, which is worth knowing before you start your search there.
Saddle River: two acres or nothing
Saddle River has enforced a two-acre minimum lot size since the 1950s, and that single zoning rule created the most countryside-like community in Bergen County: 3,400 residents, equestrian properties with working barns, and a median sale price around $2.4 million. Richard Nixon lived here for a decade after the White House. Mary J. Blige and Rev. Run followed later.
The surprise for most buyers is the schools. Saddle River children can attend Northern Highlands Regional High School, ranked #4 among New Jersey public high schools by Niche, and the borough’s own Wandell School carries an A+ rating with 115 students and an 8:1 ratio. Estate acreage usually costs you the school pipeline. Here it doesn’t.
Upper Saddle River: the estate life at half the price
One town north, the minimum lot size drops to one acre and the median price drops to roughly $1.2 to $1.5 million, while the schools arguably get better. Upper Saddle River’s K-8 district is ranked #10 out of 609 in the state, Bogert Elementary is a National Blue Ribbon school, and students feed into the same Northern Highlands high school as Saddle River.
This is the town I show to buyers who assumed the estate towns were out of reach. You give up the second acre and the equestrian culture. You keep the wooded privacy, a 90%+ homeownership rate, and crime rates 69% below the national average.
Franklin Lakes: wooded lots and a Fortune 500 tax base
Franklin Lakes runs on a similar formula, priced around $1.35 million at the median: large wooded lots, an A-rated school pipeline into Ramapo High School, and violent crime in the 93rd percentile nationally for safety. Two things set it apart. The 147-acre Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve puts hiking trails and a lake inside the borough itself, and Becton Dickinson’s global headquarters anchors a commercial tax base that most purely residential boroughs simply don’t have.
The tradeoff is the commute. There is no train station, so Manhattan means the Route 197 bus, or driving to the Mahwah or Ramsey stations. Buyers coming from the city feel that. Buyers coming for the land usually decide they don’t care.
Tenafly: luxury with a downtown
The four towns above share one weakness: you drive everywhere. Tenafly is the luxury option for people who won’t accept that. Its downtown has no chain stores, just independent restaurants and shops around a converted train station, and the GWB is 11 minutes away.
The schools are the other headline. Tenafly’s district ranks #3 in New Jersey, and the high school posts average SAT scores of 1400 with a 98% graduation rate. Add nearly 400 acres of protected woodland at the Tenafly Nature Center and you get the strongest schools-plus-walkability combination in the county. Lots are smaller than in the estate boroughs, and for many families that trade is the right one.
How to choose
| Town | Median price | What defines it | High school |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine | $4.35M | Maximum privacy, gated estates | Tenafly HS (send-receive) |
| Saddle River | ~$2.4M | 2-acre lots, equestrian | Northern Highlands (#4 in NJ) |
| Upper Saddle River | $1.2–1.5M | 1-acre lots, #10 K-8 district | Northern Highlands (#4 in NJ) |
| Franklin Lakes | ~$1.35M | Wooded lots, nature preserve | Ramapo (A-rated) |
| Tenafly | Varies by section | Walkable downtown, #3 school district | Tenafly HS (#17 in NJ) |
My shorthand after years of showings: Alpine is for privacy above all. Saddle River is for land and horses. Upper Saddle River is for schools with acreage at a saner price. Franklin Lakes is for nature and a long-term hold. Tenafly is for families who want to walk to dinner.
Every one of these markets behaves differently, from how homes are marketed to how long they sit. If you are weighing two of them against each other, that conversation is exactly what I do all day.
Talk it through before you commit
I cover all 70 Bergen County municipalities and can walk you through current inventory, off-market activity, and what your budget realistically buys in each of these towns. Browse my town-by-town guides, or reach out directly.
Tom Lee | NJNest
Phone: 848-565-1425
Email: tom@njnest.com
