Living in Union County, NJ: A Guide for Home Buyers

Living in Union County, NJ means choosing among 21 municipalities between the Watchung ridges and the Arthur Kill, served by five NJ Transit rail routes and a county park system of more than 6,200 acres. The county describes its towns as “in close proximity to NYC” with “easy access to Newark Liberty International Airport.” Rail access, school districts and tax rates differ from town to town, so the right fit depends on how you plan to live.

I’m Angela Becerra, a Rahway-based advisor. This plain-English overview is built from official and other linked sources as of September 2026. To see what’s on the market now, browse our homes for sale in Union and Middlesex County.

Where Union County is and how it began

The county’s 21 municipalities are Berkeley Heights, Clark, Cranford, Elizabeth, Fanwood, Garwood, Hillside, Kenilworth, Linden, Mountainside, New Providence, Plainfield, Rahway, Roselle, Roselle Park, Scotch Plains, Springfield, Summit, Union, Westfield and Winfield. Elizabeth is the county seat; it was founded in 1664 as Elizabethtown.

Union County was formed on March 19, 1857, from part of Essex County. The county’s official history calls it “New Jersey’s youngest county.” It covers 105.41 square miles (Union County, Wikipedia). The Census counted 575,345 residents on April 1, 2020, up from 536,499 on April 1, 2010 (NJ Department of Labor, Census 2010–2020 table).

Much of the county is “relatively flat and low-lying,” according to Wikipedia’s Union County article. The exception is the northwestern corner, where the Watchung Mountains, a group of three long, low ridges of volcanic origin, cross the county. The county’s largest nature reserve, the Watchung Reservation, lies between the First and Second Watchung Mountains. Elevations run from about 560 feet in Berkeley Heights down to sea level along the Arthur Kill. Waterways include the Arthur Kill, the Rahway River and the Elizabeth River.

Getting around: trains, airport and highways

NJ Transit runs passenger rail in Union County on five routes, plus bus service to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan (Wikipedia). Here is how the stations line up, based on NJ Transit’s Monday–Friday timetables marked “as of 8/30/26”:

Not every train stops at every station, so check the timetable for the specific train you’d ride. Rahway station sits just northeast of the junction where the Coast Line and the Corridor split, and Summit station is where the Gladstone Branch and the Morristown Line meet. Midtown Direct service began when the Kearny Connection opened to service on June 10, 1996. For station-area detail, see our community pages for Linden, Cranford, Westfield and Summit.

Newark Liberty International Airport straddles the boundary between Essex and Union counties, with its southern portion in Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Newark also share the Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the region’s principal container ship facility. The Goethals Bridge, a pair of cable-stayed spans that opened in 2017 and 2018, links Elizabeth to Staten Island.

Major roads include the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95), the Garden State Parkway, I-78, I-278, Route 1/9 and Route 22.

Parks, trails and culture

The Union County Department of Parks and Recreation runs 36 parks covering more than 6,200 acres. A few highlights:

• Watchung Reservation: the county describes it as a 2,065-acre preserve with more than 13 miles of hiking trails, and as part of a county park system designed by the Olmsted Brothers. It spans parts of Summit, Mountainside, Berkeley Heights, Scotch Plains and Springfield and includes Lake Surprise and the Trailside Nature & Science Center.
• Deserted Village of Feltville/Glenside Park: a former mill village and later summer resort inside the reservation, listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and open daily, dawn to dusk.
• Warinanco Park: 205 acres in Roselle, at the border with Elizabeth and Linden, opened in 1925, with paddleboating on Warinanco Lake, the Chatfield Garden and an ice rink.
• Rahway River Parkway: an Olmsted-planned greenway through eight towns from Union and Westfield to Clark and Rahway, including Nomahegan, Echo Lake and Rahway River parks.
• Golf: two county courses, Ash Brook and Galloping Hill. Galloping Hill was designed in 1928.

For performances, the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway has two venues. Its Main Stage opened in 1928 as the Rahway Theatre, a vaudeville and silent-movie house, and is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Its original Wurlitzer pipe organ has been fully restored.

Schools and colleges: where to find the facts

Some public school districts serve more than one town. For example, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Regional School District serves both of those towns. The official place to research any district is the NJ Department of Education’s School Performance Reports; the 2024–2025 reports were released on May 21, 2026. Always confirm school assignment for a specific address with the district.

The county also has the Union County Vocational-Technical Schools in Scotch Plains, which says it enrolls more than 2,000 students a year from every Union County municipality. Its programs serve high school students who live in the county, and admission is by application.

For higher education, Kean University, a public university founded in 1855, is in Union. Its campus includes Liberty Hall Museum, built in 1760 by New Jersey’s first governor, William Livingston. Union College of Union County, NJ, the county’s community college, has campuses in Cranford, Elizabeth, Plainfield and Scotch Plains.

Property taxes and the local economy

Property taxes are set town by town. The NJ Division of Taxation publishes a general tax rate and an effective tax rate for every municipality. The general rate is the multiplier used to calculate the tax on each property, expressed per $100 of assessed value. The effective rate is meant for comparing districts, and the Division notes it is not to be used to compute a tax bill. Here are some 2025 effective rates from the official 2025 table, the most recent year posted:

General rates vary much more from town to town, because only the effective rate puts every district on the same 100% valuation basis, so don’t compare general rates directly. For any home you’re considering, ask for the actual current tax bill.

On the business side, Merck lists its headquarters in Rahway. In February 2023 it announced an agreement to sell its 108-acre Kenilworth campus, to be vacated in phases while its Rahway headquarters completes a planned expansion. See our Rahway, NJ homes for sale for more on the city.

Living in Union County, NJ: what to check before you buy

• Flood maps: the Rahway River has recorded major floods, including Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999, an April 2007 nor’easter and Hurricane Irene in 2011 (Rahway River, Wikipedia). Look up any address on FEMA’s flood map tools before you make an offer.
• Your rail line: find the station and line for each home, then read the current NJ Transit timetable for the hours you’d actually travel.
• Taxes: compare effective rates between towns, then check the real tax bill on each property.
• Schools: look up the district by name in the School Performance Reports and confirm the address with the district.
• Parks and open space: map the nearest county park, trail or greenway if outdoor space matters to you.

If this will be your first home, our first-time buyer guide walks through the process step by step.

How I help buyers in Union County

I’m a Sales Associate with Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, based in Rahway, and I work with buyers across Union, Middlesex, Bergen, Essex and Hudson counties. I can help you compare towns by rail line and tax rate, pull flood map and school district details for specific addresses, and set up tours.

Thinking about living in Union County? I’d be glad to help you compare towns and homes, in English or Spanish. Contact me to start the conversation.

This article is for general educational purposes only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Facts come from the linked sources as of September 2026 and may change; please verify independently. Angela Becerra is a New Jersey real estate licensee (License #1970190) affiliated with Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty. Equal Housing Opportunity.

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