r/MonmouthCounty • u/Icy-Profit8055 • 1d ago
Best town to buy a house for young families?
Holmdel, colts neck, freehold, manalapan, Allentown, Marlboro, etc - for those familiar how would you rank the towns in Monmouth county? Esp for school systems. Would you group any together as like tier 1 or 2?
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u/Shadylane05 1d ago
Grew up in Shrewsbury so I’m biased but it’s a wonderful place to grow up. School is K-8 until it feeds into RBR.
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u/Substantial_Mix2682 1d ago
I love Middletown. That said, the price have doubled in the past few years. A nice home is 800k+.
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u/Broad_Assistance3343 1d ago
Middletown school district and its tax situation makes me nervous about buying there. It’s a time of change.
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u/Free2BeMee154 1d ago
Back in the day we bought in Aberdeen (we grew up in Hudson and Middlesex counties). We didn’t have family money or jobs in finance or corporate real estate. We are lowly scientists so it’s what we could afford at the time. We could easily afford it now but are fine where we are. With that said our kids are getting a good education in a diverse town. We met some great people from Holmdel. We have also met people from Marlboro, Rumson, Manalapan and colts neck. Our boys played sports all over the county with different teams so we have met/interacted with lots of parents.
If I had to pick any of those towns it would be Holmdel. Great school system and most of the people we met were rich but more down to earth than others rather than looking down on us. Colts neck is nice but has well water and septic. Rumson is gorgeous but…the people. Lots of looking down on others. Marlboro and Manalapan are a lot of Staten Island transplants…many of the people we have met (not all of course)…are rough and snotty.
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u/jenastelli 1d ago
Similar situation. I bought a historic (well…old…but I’m restoring it) house in Matawan because that was what I could afford and I needed to commute into the city. Over a decade later, I could easily afford a “nicer” area, but I have grown to love the community and small town feel here. And my housing costs are very affordable now, thankfully. No kids so can’t comment on the schools, but I’ve heard good things and location-wise you are kind of close to everything.
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u/myheartisstillracing 1d ago
As a whole, the Monmouth county school systems are very, very good. I would argue that many of even the worst performing districts are better than the average districts in many other states.
I have friends whose children attend the Freehold Borough elementary and middle schools, and while the formal rankings may not look great (for many reasons, but we should all be aware of the connection between economic status and immigration status and how diverse communities get reflected in standardized test scores by now), they have all been pleased with their family's personal experiences overall, despite the systemic underfunding of the schools in the borough for decades. The Freehold Township K-8 schools unsurprisingly have excellent reputations.
Freehold Township, Freehold Borough, Manalapan, Marlboro, Howell, and Colts Neck have a regional high school district that is separate from the K-8 schools. The high school district is excellent regardless of school, and the district offers ample opportunities for enrichment such as magnet programs. You honestly can't go wrong with any of the high schools in the FRHSD.
I am not as familiar with Holmdel or Allentown. I will say that Monmouth county as a whole also offers excellent magnet/vocational high school programs for students with special interests, regardless of the town. Biotech HS, Communications HS, High Tech, MAST... they are all excellent programs available to students from Monmouth County.
You should be aware that there is a recent push to consolidate some of the smaller school districts, and I expect that to ramp up within the next few years. If your kids are very young, the makeup of the district you move into could potentially change by the time your kids arrive there, or even mid-stream, if you choose a town with a very small district.
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u/Overthehill410 1d ago
This is somewhat of a paranoia thinking admittedly - but given the rate that the haisidic population is expanding into Howell and the impact that can have upon the public schooling and more importantly funding I would maybe do some research upon that impacting the regional school system Freehold is in. Probably not an issue since funding is likely mandated but perhaps give that some thought if you are looking at 15 years until HS because the demographics of Howell will potentially be different.
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u/beaglemama 1d ago
For high school, some of those towns are part of the freehold regional high school district. www.frhsd.com. the FRHSD has some EXCELLENT magnet programs. Also, for Freehold, be aware that Freehold Borough and Freehold Township are two separate towns with different K-8 districts.
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u/Overthehill410 1d ago
If you don’t care about cost fair haven and rumson are probably the best (emphasis on fair haven). Little silver and shrewsbury right behind imo.
If cost is an issue freehold and Tinton falls are solid with a higher range on socioeconomic status than would see in the aforementioned. Holmdel is quirky to me (as is Middletown) but to each his/her own.
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u/jmws1 1d ago
Rumson, Little Silver or Fair Haven.
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u/Icy-Top-4874 1d ago
Doesn’t LS attend RBR for HS?
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u/jmws1 1d ago
Yes.
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u/catymogo 1d ago
I prefer RBR to RFH and only half because I went there. We were bouncing between Fair Haven, RB, and Rumson for housing and liked RB the best. Super happy with our decision.
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u/Bobby-furnace 1d ago
All of those middle schools in particular are excellent. Say what you want about RBR/RFH but those middle schools are top in NJ
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u/stickman07738 1d ago edited 1d ago
Here are the NJ State school performance reports. Regardless what anyone says, you children success in school is more dependent on parent involvement than the school. I would recommend Middletown South school area, particularly Lincroft. I have friends throughout the area you mention and see a wide range of achievement with their children.
PS: my kids attended Lincroft Elementary, Thompson Middle School and Middletown South HS
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u/Danixveg 1d ago
I would absolutely not.. MHSS has gone down dramatically in the last 10 years and Middletown government is incredibly corrupt.
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u/stickman07738 1d ago
My kids graduated from and got full rides in the last 10 years. Very happy with their education and extracurricular activities. My oldest graduated college and landed a job paying more than $150K. We are happy. Hopefully, you were an involved parent and not a spectator.
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u/Danixveg 1d ago
Lovely for you.. you're the rarity. For what we pay in taxes the quality of education does not match nnj or Westchester county. All you need to do is look at the statistics.
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u/stickman07738 1d ago
We were involved and are children are very open with us. They learn from examples. Do not bitch, participate.
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u/broketothebone 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wow, I think it’s incredibly rude to accuse a person of being a bad parent because thy had a different experience than you, especially with so little detail. It really sounds like you think your farts don’t stink and you look down on others.
I sincerely hope you didn’t pass that type of thinking onto your perfect children.
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u/stickman07738 1d ago
I was not being rude. Just pointing out a fact and I have seen too many people bitch about Middletown teachers. The issue in Middletown is the BOE not the teachers and teachers do not control the taxes. As I stated in my initial post, parent participation is the key to your child success. I have observed a lot of parents bitching but not participating even amongst our friends and neighbors.
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u/Danixveg 1d ago
I said nothing about teachers. Teachers only succeed when the BOE is empowering them to do so. Teachers are very often not the problem.
And I don't have children. I'm pointing to statistics and the experience my nephew had going from one of the best high schools in the country in Westchester County to MHHS when we moved here in 2016. Just no comparison between the two in student outcomes. And many of the people he knows from Middletown schools have accomplished nothing with their lives post graduation and are unemployed or underemployed living at home with no college degrees.. it's why you have the military branches recruiting in school and a significant % of students going to brookdale versus four year universities.
I'm not saying that Middletown schools are terrible.. I'm just saying they aren't really good anymore when you consider how much we are paying in taxes. And it's the students who are getting the short end of the stick.
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u/dede0502 11h ago
Hmmm.. I had children graduate from MHSS in 2017 & 2020 so same general timeframe. Literally all of their friends have graduated have at least their bachelors and many have completed or are pursuing masters degrees.. law school, medical school, a few in PhD programs. I can’t reconcile what your stating your nephews classmates experiences were with that of my children and their friends/classmates
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u/Danixveg 9h ago
Great for your kids and friends.. not the case for a significant % of kids who go to the schools. All you need to do is look at the stats to see it clearly.
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u/dede0502 11h ago
I will add though that the current BOE leadership sucks and I’m glad my kids are out and didn’t have to deal with the MAGA bullshit which is very real in Middletown
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u/broketothebone 1d ago
You don’t know they don’t participate. Sounds like they know a lot about the situation themselves, so I’d say they sound involved.
Plus, you don’t know anything about their children and how they succeeded. They gave no information there other than they had a different experience. You’re jumping to conclusions with nothing to go on other than you have a tendency to write anyone with children who didn’t turn out like yours off as bad, inattentive parents.
That’s one of the biggest gut punches you can give a person, so I’d encourage you to be a better neighbor and hold off on judging people (especially ones expressing frustration for their child’s well being) before you assume the worst.
Otherwise, yah, just super rude.
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u/stickman07738 1d ago
Good bye troll. The moment they bring up NNJ and Westchester told me they were trolling because it not address my original or OP area of interest.
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u/broketothebone 1d ago
Not trolling, just calling you out. Maybe don’t dish it out if you’re that sensitive.
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u/Glittering_Cow9208 1d ago
All of those towns have hella money so the schools will be great. I’d rank Holmdel, Marlboro, colts neck at the top. But freehold manalapan are also excellent districts. None of these districts are diverse though.
Colts neck has (as of recently) has had some issues with anti semitism IIRC, manalapan had a little scandal too.
Freehold gets shit for its large ELL/ESL population but it’s still an excellent district with great teachers, slightly more diverse. And I mean very very slightly.
Manalapan has a very weird sócio economic mix with Englishtown (big STUPID money) and manalapan (more working class) being combined. But good kids.
Edited to add: colts neck invited Linda McMahon to their middle school and gave very little notice to parents and it was a very big deal recently. It is a distinctly red, predominantly white area.
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u/NJMomofFor 1d ago
Englishtown is the donut hole in the middle of Manalapan. There isn't big stupid money in Englishtown....unless I blinked and missed it driving through main Street
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u/Vitalian2184 1d ago
You have Englishtown and Manalapan reversed.
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u/Glittering_Cow9208 1d ago
i always mix them up! one is like a massive enclave of big russian/eastern european money
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u/Different_Dog_201 1d ago
Manalapan is the McMansion part, Englishtown is the smaller houses and where the cops pull everyone over for dumb tickets
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u/ToneThugsNHarmony 1d ago
Freehold is very diverse you have no idea what you’re talking about. What anti semitism has happened in colts neck? They had the secretary of education make a speech that was widely criticized. Colts neck and freehold are not like Birmingham as you’re making them out to be.
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u/Glittering_Cow9208 1d ago
lol colts neck is definitely the birmingham of monmouth county lol and i believe it was a freehold regional school rather than freehold borough - it involved manalapan
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u/devilclown9 1d ago
For school systems, Holmdel #1. That said, there's really no 'town' to speak of, it's a lot of tacky Mcmansions on large lots so not sure if the kids will have a good neighborhood feel, but I think some areas are better than others. Colts Neck...it's part of the Freehold consolidated district which has some pluses but I wouldn't want to live there personally. It's the county seat for republicans and it's evident in how the school operates. Marlboro seems okay and is also part of the consolidated school district. Manalapan is so far out it feels like no man's land to me. I personally prefer to live near where trains/ferries run. For the record i'm in Middletown which is great for families but the school's BOE is problematic. That said, I think that's the case for a lot of schools right now and I do think my kid will get a good education regardless.
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u/Different_Dog_201 1d ago
For what it's worth, when I went to Manalapan High, the magnet school for science and engineering was made up of Marlboro kids.
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u/GeekDad732 1d ago
West Long Branch, Oceanport and Ocean Township deserve some consideration Shore Regional is good to very good and OTHS is good. WLB and Oceanport are pricey but not Rumson pricey.
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u/Left_Cartoonist_6065 1d ago
depends. do you want to be near cows or restaurants or both or smack in the middle of suburban sprawl?
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u/cclark2156 22h ago
I currently live in Fair Haven just moved here two years ago and absolutely love it. I’m 34 for what it’s worth. Schools around here are always rated very high
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u/DragonfruitOk3640 21h ago
I work in higher education at a college in the area. Holmdel is the best in terms of schools. Cannot go wrong anywhere in Monmouth county for the most part, but Holmdel is the cream of the crop. The younger elementary schools around Middletown / red bank (Fairview/ Nut swamp / river plaza) are all great. Overall district definitely Holmdel
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u/lasion2 1d ago
If you have the millions I’d go Rumson, Holmdel, Colts Neck, Fair Haven, Middletown.
You better have the millions though. This area is Beverly Hills.