Demarest, NJ Real Estate & Luxury Homes for Sale
Demarest is a two-square-mile Northern Valley borough built around the Duck Pond, with three small PreK–8 schools, no train station, and a regional high school district Niche ranks #1 in New Jersey.
Demarest is two square miles with a duck pond in the middle of it. That is not a figure of speech — the Duck Pond, a widening of the Tenakill Brook, really is the center of town, and the borough grew up around it. There is no commercial strip to speak of and no working train station. What there is: about 4,900 people, three small public schools, and the regional high school that Niche currently rates the #1 school district in New Jersey.
I sell across the Northern Valley, and Demarest is the town where the school conversation starts before we have talked about a single house. That is fair. It is also not the whole story, so here is the honest version.
Three things, in this order: the schools, the trees, and the Duck Pond.
The fourth thing is the old railroad depot. Passenger service on the line through town ended in 1966. The borough bought the station site in 1978, restored the building, and it has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2004 — now it gets used for community events instead of commuters. That is a decent summary of Demarest generally: it kept the nice parts of being a nineteenth-century rail village and quietly let go of the rest.
What it is not known for is shopping or nightlife. There is a short row of local places near the depot and that is genuinely it. Closter Plaza, with Whole Foods and Target, is a few minutes away and does the heavy lifting.
Demarest runs its own PreK–8 district and it is unusual in how it is split. Three buildings, each covering a narrow band of grades:
The district as a whole sits 17th of 609 in New Jersey. Ninth grade onward, students go to Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest on Knickerbocker Road — 1,038 students, roughly 11 per teacher, 18th of 434 high schools in the state, shared with Closter and Haworth. Niche ranks the regional district #1 in New Jersey and the Demarest high school #19 of 428.
One more thing most write-ups miss: the Bergen County Institute for Science and Technology, one of the county academies, is physically located in Demarest on Knickerbocker Road and ranks 13th of 434 New Jersey high schools. Admission is county-wide and competitive, so living here does not get you in — but it does mean your kid could have a ten-minute commute to it instead of a forty-minute one.
The honest trade-off: three buildings in a two-square-mile town means your child changes schools twice before middle school. Some families love the small, tight cohorts. Others find the transitions a lot. And because all three let out around the same time, County Road and Hardenburgh genuinely backs up in the afternoon. That is the level of detail you only get from someone who has sat in it.
There is no train, so plan around the bus or the car.
The average Demarest commute is 43.2 minutes. That number surprises people who assume a $1M-plus Bergen County town must be twenty minutes from Midtown. It is not, and anyone who tells you otherwise has not made the drive at 8 a.m.
Demarest grew up fast in the postwar years — 1,786 people in 1950, 4,231 by 1960 — so a large share of what you will tour is a mid-century colonial or split on a generous, private lot. On top of that sits a steady layer of gut renovations and custom rebuilds, which is where the seven-figure numbers come from.
Census estimates put the median property value at $1.11M as of 2024, up 15.5% in a year. Read that number carefully: it reflects estimated value across every home in town, including ones the same family has owned since the 1970s. Actual closings run meaningfully higher, and the gap between the two is exactly where sellers lose money by guessing. If you want a real number for your street and your finishes, ask me for current comps rather than trusting a portal estimate.
Inventory is thin. With 94.3% homeownership and a lot of people who moved here for the schools and simply stayed, the good listings do not sit.
Quiet, green, and organized around the school calendar. The median age is 46 and about four in ten households have a child under 18, which tells you this is a town of established families rather than first-time buyers.
Life happens at the Duck Pond, the Nature Center trails, and the fields. There are summer concerts at the gazebo, an Oktoberfest at the pond, and an annual 5K that raises money for the schools. Nobody moves to Demarest for excitement. People move here, raise kids, and then have a hard time leaving.
Rather than tell you I do good work, here is a review from my Google Business Profile — from a Demarest homeowner who interviewed six agents before choosing me.
“After searching for a Realtor and interviewing 6 potential realtors, I chose Lana Henriques. Lana was very responsive and helped tremendously with the entire process, including suggestions and jumping in to help with work… Lana was able to get multiple bids from many people that finally went above the asking price. Lana has multiple marketing strategies that transcends across social media, local media, website and flyers. Lana’s skills are superb and you won’t be disappointed. Yes, I’d hire Lana again.”
— Joe C., Demarest seller, June 2023
Values here move by street, lot size and how recently a house was renovated — a countywide average tells you almost nothing about your own address. Start with a free home valuation, and I will follow up with the actual comparable sales behind the number.
If you would rather just talk it through, reach out here or call me at 201-310-6560.
Demarest borders Alpine, Closter, Cresskill, Dumont and Haworth. Buyers who like Demarest usually end up comparing it with Closter (same high school, more shopping), Cresskill (its own K–12 district) and Harrington Park or Norwood a little further north.
For the wider picture, start at my Bergen County guide, and if you are coming out of the city, read Demarest for NYC commuters seeking space and calm.
Yes, particularly for families who put schools first. Niche ranks Demarest #22 of 414 New Jersey suburbs for raising a family and #25 of 637 places statewide, and its regional high school district #1 in New Jersey. It is quiet, very safe and almost entirely owner-occupied, which is a genuine plus if you want stability and a genuine drawback if you want walkable restaurants and nightlife.
Census estimates put the median property value at $1.11M as of 2024, up 15.5% year over year. Actual sale prices run higher than that estimate, especially for renovated and newer construction. Ask me for current comparable sales on your street.
Two of them. Demarest Public Schools cover PreK through 8th grade across County Road School, Luther Lee Emerson School and Demarest Middle School. From 9th grade, students attend Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest, part of the Northern Valley Regional High School District, alongside students from Closter and Haworth.
Not for passengers. The Demarest depot served the line until 1966; the building was restored and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Today the commute runs on Rockland Coaches buses 20 and 20T from the Duck Pond to the Port Authority, or by car over the George Washington Bridge. The nearest passenger rail is the Pascack Valley Line.
Alpine, Closter, Cresskill, Dumont and Haworth.
Barely, and that is deliberate. There is a small cluster of local businesses near the historic depot and no commercial strip. Closter Plaza, with Whole Foods and Target, is the everyday shopping trip.
I live one town over in Norwood and I sell across the Northern Valley, so I can tell you how Demarest actually compares to Closter, Cresskill, Harrington Park and Old Tappan — not from a data sheet, but from having been inside the houses. Send me a note or call 201-310-6560, and if you are curious what your current place is worth, start here.
4,916 people live in Demarest, where the median age is 45.9 and the average individual income is $106,410. Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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There's plenty to do around Demarest, including shopping, dining, nightlife, parks, and more. Data provided by Walk Score and Yelp.
Explore popular things to do in the area, including Park Street Salon, and Amazing Foot Spa.
| Name | Category | Distance | Reviews |
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| Beauty | 0.37 miles | 1 review | 5/5 stars | |
| Beauty | 0.38 miles | 0 reviews | 0/5 stars | |
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Demarest has 1,695 households, with an average household size of 2.89. Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Here’s what the people living in Demarest do for work — and how long it takes them to get there. Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. 4,916 people call Demarest home. The population density is 2,372 and the largest age group is Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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Population Density Population Density This is the number of people per square mile in a neighborhood.
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15 Vervalen St Closter NJ 07624
15 Vervalen St Closter NJ 07624
