There are apartment buildings in Fort Lee that house more people than the entire borough of Teterboro. The 2020 census counted 61 residents here, spread across a handful of homes on about one square mile of land, and nearly all of that square mile belongs to the most famous private jet airport in America.
I get asked about Teterboro constantly, and the question is usually some version of: do people actually live there? They do. Not many, and not often, but the story of how this borough works is one of the best in Bergen County. If you understand Teterboro, you understand a lot about how this county fits together. So here it is, told straight.
1. The Airport Is the Town, and the Town Is Aviation History
The first flight from this site took off in 1919, which makes Teterboro the oldest operating airport in the New York City area. Anthony Fokker, the Dutch aircraft designer, based his American operations here after World War I. The borough itself was incorporated in 1917 and named for Walter C. Teter, a New York investment banker who bought the marshland, drained it, and built an airport and an 18 hole golf course on it. The town even spent six years renamed Bendix Borough before switching back in 1943.
Today the Port Authority runs the airport, and it handles roughly 170,000 aircraft operations a year, almost entirely private and corporate aviation. Since 1977, aircraft over 100,000 pounds have been banned from taking off here, which is why you will never see an airline gate at Teterboro. It is the front door for business aviation in the New York metro, and it sits in a town smaller than most wedding guest lists.
2. Sixty One Neighbors and the Lowest Tax Bill in Bergen County
Here is the part that makes my clients’ eyes go wide. Because the airport and the surrounding industrial properties carry the municipal budget, the average residential property tax bill in Teterboro was $2,059 as of 2018, the lowest in Bergen County. Not the lowest by a little. In a county where five figure tax bills are the norm, Teterboro is playing a different sport.
The catch is supply. The residential part of town amounts to a small pocket around Huyler Street plus the Vincent Place apartments built in 1999. The 2010 census counted about 25 households in the entire borough. When something lists here, it is genuinely news, and I mean that literally. I have seen Teterboro listings get more attention than million dollar colonials three towns over.
3. A Surprisingly Serious School Setup
A town of 61 cannot run its own school system, and Teterboro does not pretend to. Since July 2010, Teterboro children have attended the Hasbrouck Heights School District from pre-K through 12th grade, a well regarded suburban district one town west. That is a stable, sensible arrangement, and for the handful of families here it works.
The twist is that Teterboro actually hosts one of the county’s academic crown jewels. Bergen County Technical High School operates its Teterboro campus inside the borough, a competitive admission county program that draws applicants from across all 70 municipalities. The town with the fewest students in Bergen County educates some of its most driven ones.
4. The Commute: A Train Station, Three Highways, and, Technically, Your Own Airport
Teterboro has its own NJ Transit rail station, which means the borough has roughly one train station per 61 residents, a ratio no other town in America is beating. The station sits on the Pascack Valley Line. A typical morning run leaves Teterboro at 7:39 and arrives at Hoboken Terminal at 8:06, about 27 minutes, with PATH and ferry connections onward. Transfer at Secaucus Junction instead and you are walking into New York Penn Station in roughly 40 minutes total.
Drivers do even better. Route 46 runs straight through the borough, Interstate 80 passes through its edge, and Route 17 traces the Hasbrouck Heights border, putting the George Washington Bridge about 15 minutes away in normal traffic. And if your commute involves a Gulfstream, you live at the office. I say that as a joke, but for a certain kind of aviation professional it is simply true.
5. Real History You Can Visit, and Bragging Rights You Cannot Buy
The Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey sits at 400 Fred Wehran Drive, open Wednesday through Saturday, and it is one of the county’s most underrated afternoons. A century of New Jersey flight history, honored aviators, aircraft you can walk up to, all inside a borough you can cross in two minutes.
So who actually ends up living in Teterboro? People who work in and around the airport. People who want a Bergen County address with almost no tax bill. And honestly, people who love the novelty of it, because telling someone at a dinner party that your town has 61 residents and its own famous airport never gets old. It is the rarest address in the county, and I do not use the word rare loosely here.
Where to Eat in Teterboro
Time for some honesty: inside the borough line, Teterboro is runways, hangars, and warehouses, not restaurant rows. But the food situation is far better than the map suggests, because the bordering towns eat very well. All five of my picks are within about five minutes of the airport gates, and every one of them is the kind of place locals defend with real loyalty.
Segovia Restaurant
Just over the line in Moonachie, Segovia has been the area’s Spanish institution since 1980. Paella, mariscada, garlic shrimp, steaks, and pitchers of sangria that have anchored a thousand family celebrations. It ranks number one of the twelve restaurants in Moonachie on Tripadvisor, and the portions are famously generous.
This is where airport crews, Meadowlands families, and half of South Bergen go when there is something to celebrate. Go hungry and order the paella for the table.
Why locals love it: Forty five years of Spanish seafood and sangria three minutes from the runway, and it still fills up on a Tuesday.
Bazzarelli Restaurant
Also on Moonachie Road, Bazzarelli has been serving Italian food and pizza since 1971. It is family owned, the owner still works the room, and the menu is old school in the best sense: sausage and peppers, meatball subs, baked pastas done properly.
Between Segovia and Bazzarelli, one short stretch of Moonachie Road quietly out-eats downtowns ten times its size. That tells you something about this corner of the county.
Why locals love it: Fifty plus years of red sauce consistency, and regulars drive in from other counties for the meatballs.
Bistro 107
The third reason Moonachie Road is the real dining district of greater Teterboro. Bistro 107 opened in 2005 and brings a more contemporary Italian touch, with a full bar, a serious wine list, and a banquet room that handles everything from corporate dinners to communions.
It is the polished option of the three, the one I suggest for a client dinner near the airport when the flight leaves in two hours.
Why locals love it: White tablecloth Italian minutes from the terminal, without white tablecloth attitude.
Sofia’s Mediterranean Grill
Head up the hill into Hasbrouck Heights, Teterboro’s neighbor to the west, and you find Sofia’s on the Boulevard. Family owned Greek cooking, and the real thing: gyros carved properly, moussaka, spanakopita, grilled octopus.
The Boulevard is the closest thing Teterboro residents have to a hometown main street, and Sofia’s is its anchor. Five minutes from Vincent Place, door to door.
Why locals love it: The Greek standards are done with genuine care, and the family that owns it treats regulars like relatives.
Il Villaggio
A few minutes south on Route 17 in Carlstadt sits one of Bergen County’s enduring Italian destinations. Il Villaggio has spent almost four decades perfecting Northern Italian cooking, and the double cut veal chop and daily seafood specials have earned it a following that spans the whole county.
This is the special occasion pick, the anniversary and closing dinner spot. When my clients ask where to celebrate a new home anywhere in South Bergen, this is usually my answer.
Why locals love it: Nearly 40 years of Northern Italian excellence on Route 17, and the veal chop alone justifies the reputation.
What Teterboro’s Food Scene Says About the Town
Teterboro does not have a food scene inside its borders, and it does not need one, because it sits at the center of a cluster of towns that never stopped cooking like it is 1975 in the best possible way. Spanish, Italian, Greek, all family owned, all within five minutes. That is Teterboro in miniature: a town that owns almost nothing residents of other places take for granted, yet somehow lacks for nothing. Small borough, enormous reach. That is the whole Teterboro story.
Ready to Make Teterboro Home?
I will be straight with you: Teterboro homes almost never come to market, and when one does, it moves fast. If this town intrigues you, let me put you on my radar for the rare listing, and in the meantime I can show you what your money does in the neighboring towns, or in a bigger community like Teaneck just up the road. Either way, you will get the honest version from me, the same way I wrote this guide.
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Tom Lee | NJNest
Phone: 848-565-1425
Email: tom@njnest.com
Website: njnest.com
Tom Lee is a licensed real estate agent with 2Win Realty, specializing in Bergen County residential real estate. With deep local expertise and a client-first approach, Tom helps buyers and sellers across all 70 Bergen County municipalities make confident real estate decisions.
