The 10 Worst New York City Suburbs

The 10 Worst New York Suburbs To Live For 2025

We’ll get the ball rolling with Morristown, the absolute worst place to live around New York according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Morristown beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the worst in the New York area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 3rd worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Morristown.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

Welcome to Perth Amboy. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 20.1 miles to New York. Income levels here are the 7th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $58,490 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst New York suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Newark on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other New York suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Plainfield, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 22nd lowest New York suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 18th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near New York. Remember, we looked at 201 cities for this study.

Plainfield is about 25.2 miles to downtown.

East Newark has the distinction of being a New York suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, East Newark has the 5th lowest home values in the metro New York area, where the median price is $366,564. The median income is $250,001.

East Newark has an unemployment rate of 12.06% which ranks 3rd worst.

New Brunswick has 55,744 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 31.578068582639368%.

Ah, Paterson. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around New York.

It’s the place with the 11th most out of work residents in the New York metro area (10.23%).

Passaic is a city about 16.5 miles from New York, but New York probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Passaic has the 3rd most uninsured people, 6th worst incomes, and has the 5th highest unemployment rate (11.35%) in the entire New York metro area.

Homes only cost $566,739 for a reason. That’s cheap for New York standards.

If you absolutely have to live near New York, then North Plainfield might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst New York suburb.

About 9.6% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst New York suburbs to call home is Linden.

Located 15.9 miles outside the city, Lindens is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 23rd highest unemployment rate (8.47%), and poverty is far above the area average.