Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, home to about 53,793 people across 5.3 square miles. Its ZIP code is 07003.
Homes sold for a median of $421 per square foot in the three months ending August 2026, a seller’s market.
Each card is that ZIP code’s whole market, including any part outside Bloomfield. Seller’s market: under 4 months of supply; buyer’s market: over 6. Methodology
Bloomfield's land was bought from the Yantecaw, a Lenape group, and became part of the Newark settlement founded in 1666; the area was first known as the Wardessen ward and was later placed in Newark Township. The Green at its center has served as a militia drilling and parade ground since 1775. A parish formed in 1796 took the name of Joseph Bloomfield, a Revolutionary War officer and later governor of New Jersey, and the township carried that name when it separated from Newark and incorporated in 1812. The original township was far larger and included what became Belleville, Montclair, Glen Ridge and Nutley.
The Second River, Third River and Toney's Brook powered early sawmills and gristmills, and local sandstone was quarried for brownstone by 1765. The Newark and Pompton Turnpike, now Bloomfield Avenue, opened in 1806, and the Morris Canal began operating through town in 1831. The Oakes Woolen Mill, founded in 1830, was for a time the township's largest industry and ran into the 1940s. Railroads and streetcars followed, and by 1930 dozens of factories, including General Electric, Westinghouse, Schering and Charms Candy, made Bloomfield an industrial town. The Westinghouse Lamp Plant produced most of the uranium metal for Chicago Pile-1 during World War II.
The last farms gave way to postwar housing, and the Garden State Parkway arrived in 1952, built partly along the old canal bed. State and National Register listings include the Bloomfield Green Historic District (listed 1978), the Bloomfield train station on Lackawanna Place, the Morris Canal corridor and the 1895 Oakes Estate on Belleville Avenue.
Bloomfield's housing is a mix of single-family houses, two- to four-family homes and apartment buildings, and much of it is old: a large share predates World War II and much of the rest went up between the late 1940s and the 1960s, according to the township's 2025 master plan draft. Detached single-family houses cluster around Brookdale and Watsessing parks, while compact two- to four-family homes are common near Ampere Parkway.
The township's character shifts from edge to edge. Streets bordering Belleville, Newark and East Orange are denser, with smaller lots and buildings set close to the sidewalk, while those along Montclair and Glen Ridge have larger setbacks. Named sections include Brookdale at the north end, which grew from farmland in the 1920s; Halcyon Park, an early 20th-century planned neighborhood; Watsessing and Ampere in the south; and part of Silver Lake, shared with Belleville. The oldest blocks surround the Green and the former Bloomfield College campus, now part of Montclair State University.
Walkable business districts run along Bloomfield Avenue and Broad Street, with larger car-oriented shopping south of the Garden State Parkway. Since the 2000s, former industrial sites near the Bloomfield and Watsessing Avenue train stations have been redeveloped with apartment and loft buildings. Bloomfield Public Schools is the public district.
Bloomfield has two NJ Transit rail stations on the Montclair-Boonton Line: Bloomfield station in the center and Watsessing Avenue station to the south. Trains run toward Newark Broad Street and Hoboken Terminal, and Midtown Direct trains continue via Secaucus Junction to New York Penn Station; weekend service on the line runs between Montclair and Hoboken. Check NJ Transit timetables for current schedules.
The Newark Light Rail's Grove Street stop serves the south end of town, and numerous NJ Transit bus routes run along Bloomfield Avenue, Broad Street and other corridors into Newark. As of recent listings, route 102 runs to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, and the Go Bus 28 links Bloomfield station with Newark Liberty International Airport. A private commuter bus line to New York ended in 2023, after which NJ Transit added local service.
For drivers, the Garden State Parkway runs north-south through the township with four interchanges (148 through 151) and the Essex toll plaza, and Routes 3 and 280 are close by. County routes 506 and 509 carry local traffic. The township's plans call for completing the Morris Canal Greenway and Essex-Hudson Greenway segments and adding bike parking at the rail stations.
Two Essex County parks anchor recreation. Brookdale Park, about 121 acres on the north side, has a formal rose garden, a quarter-mile track, playing fields, tennis courts, an archery field, a fitness course, a dog park and an annual summer concert series. Watsessing Park, a 69-acre Olmsted-designed landscape shared with East Orange, has fields, courts, a bandstand and playgrounds. Lion Gate Park, a township park on a former industrial site, includes a restored wetland along the Third River that holds floodwater.
The Green remains the historic heart of town, bordered by the former Bloomfield College campus, whose older buildings include Seibert Hall and Knox Hall. The Historical Society of Bloomfield runs a museum at 90 Broad Street, open Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and by appointment. The 1895 Oakes Estate on Belleville Avenue is listed on the State and National Registers, and the township's cultural venues include the Oakeside-Bloomfield Cultural Center and the Westminster Theater on the college campus.
Everyday shopping and dining concentrate in the walkable business districts along Bloomfield Avenue and Broad Street around Bloomfield Center, near the train station, where the township's master plan calls for more gathering spaces and a possible performance venue.
Researched and drafted from the public sources below. Updated October 2026. Spot something wrong or out of date? Tell us.
Local agent who knows Bloomfield? Agents who advertise here will be able to write and update this guide. Advertise on OfferBacked
Good to know
Thinking about buying in Bloomfield? Tell us what you’re looking for and we’ll connect you with a local agent. Free, and no obligation.
Get matched| Nearest major airport | Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)8 miles away |
|---|---|
| Nearest city of 250,000+ | Newark, NJ6 miles away |
| Nearest city of 1 million+ | New York, NY16 miles away |
Straight-line distances from the center of Bloomfield; driving is longer.
Source: Airports from OurAirports (scheduled passenger service); city centers and populations from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Source: Members of Congress from the congress-legislators project; districts from the Census Bureau’s relationship files; governor and mayor from Wikidata.
Bloomfield had 53,105 residents in the 2020 census, up 11% since 2000.
It’s the 35th largest of 565 towns in New Jersey by population.
Essex County grew from 359,053 residents in 1900 to 863,728 in 2020.
Essex County, 1900–2020
Source: U.S. Census Bureau decennial censuses (counties 1900–1990 from the Bureau’s historical county file).
Average highs peak around 87°F in summer, and winter lows average 25°F. About 50.7 inches of rain and melted snow fall in a typical year, with about 28 inches of snow.
Source: NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals, Harrison, NJ weather station (4 miles away).
295,575 jobs at 19,392 businesses in Essex County. The biggest industries by employees:
Source: U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 (private employers; jobs counted where people work).
488 doctors and other health care providers list an office in Bloomfield.
Nearest hospitals
Providers with an office here
| Primary care doctors | 35 |
|---|---|
| Specialist doctors | 73 |
| Dentists | 61 |
| Nurse practitioners and physician assistants | 75 |
| Mental health providers | 128 |
| Physical and occupational therapists | 74 |
| Optometrists | 12 |
| Chiropractors | 30 |
| Pharmacies | 18 |
Source: Hospitals from CMS Hospital General Information (ratings are CMS overall star ratings); straight-line distances; providers from the CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), by practice address and primary specialty.
Parks (28 nearby)
Grocery stores (7 nearby)
Pharmacies (9 nearby)
Libraries (3 nearby)
Museums (1 nearby)
Theaters and performance venues (7 nearby)
Counts are within about 1.5 miles of the center of town.
Source: Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (openstreetmap.org/copyright), as mapped by volunteers; it can miss places or include closed ones.
Colleges and universities
Notable people born here
Source: Wikidata (wikidata.org), the free knowledge base; people are listed by place of birth.
Public schools here are run by Bloomfield Township School District. Check each district’s attendance zones for a specific address.
| School | Grades | Students | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairview Elementary SchoolBloomfield | Pre-K–6 | 499 | Public | 0.7 mi |
| The Early Childhood Center @ Forest GlenBloomfield | Pre-K | 158 | Special Education | 0.4 mi |
| Berkeley Elementary SchoolBloomfield | K–6 | 453 | Public | 1.2 mi |
| Brookdale Elementary SchoolBloomfield | K–6 | 342 | Public | 2.1 mi |
| Carteret Elementary SchoolBloomfield | K–6 | 383 | Public | 1.7 mi |
| Demarest Elementary SchoolBloomfield | K–6 | 482 | Public | 1.5 mi |
| Franklin Elementary SchoolBloomfield | K–6 | 352 | Public | 0.4 mi |
| Oak View Elementary SchoolBloomfield | K–6 | 399 | Public | 2.5 mi |
| Watsessing Elementary SchoolBloomfield | K–6 | 333 | Public | 1.5 mi |
| Bloomfield Middle SchoolBloomfield | 7–8 | 944 | Public | 1.5 mi |
| Bloomfield High SchoolBloomfield | 9–12 | 2,055 | Public | 0.5 mi |
| School | Grades | Students | Affiliation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Looking Glass Children's CenterBloomfield | Pre-K–2 | 34 | Nonsectarian | 2.3 mi |
| Maarif SchoolBloomfield | Pre-K–12 | 199 | Islamic | 0.5 mi |
| Rainbow Montessori IncBloomfield | Pre-K–K | 3 | Nonsectarian | 2.2 mi |
| St Thomas the Apostle SchoolBloomfield | Pre-K–8 | 163 | Roman Catholic | 2.1 mi |
| Westbridge AcademyBloomfield | 1–12 | 60 | Nonsectarian | 0.9 mi |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, NCES: Common Core of Data (2024-2025) for public schools; Private School Universe Survey (2023-2024) for private schools. Listed by address; we don’t rate schools.
Buying or selling around Bloomfield? Tell us what you need and when. No agents advertise here yet, so we’ll keep your request for up to 30 days and send it to local agents who join. No obligation, and you choose who to work with.
Loading map…
Town boundaries don’t always match ZIP codes: a ZIP code can cross into neighboring towns, and a town can share a ZIP code with its neighbors. Facts describe the town itself; market figures describe whole ZIP codes.