A Union County town with a walkable downtown around Elm Street, East Broad Street and Quimby Street, Mindowaskin Park and its pond up the hill, and a station on NJ Transit's Raritan Valley Line. Westfield was settled in 1720 as the West Fields of Elizabethtown and has been the Town of Westfield since 1903.
Westfield is a Union County town built around a real downtown: Elm Street, East Broad and Quimby a few minutes on foot from the train, with Mindowaskin Park and its pond at the top of the hill. It is a suburb, so some of this day is a short drive, but most of it is a walk. I show homes here but I do not live here, so I built this day from the places locals rate highest, and I am walking it myself. Every place is real. The map is real. Scroll, and I'll walk you through it. Tap any stop for the full story.
The coffee is roasted right here: Boxwood's Westfield shop is also its roastery. Open at seven every day, a five-minute walk down East Broad from the park.
The sit-down breakfast, around the corner on Central Avenue: open from seven-thirty, seven days, for breakfast, brunch and lunch.
The honest version: Westfield is on the Raritan Valley Line, and many trains need a change at Newark Penn for New York. Check the NJ Transit timetable for the trains that run straight through before you count on one.
From here it is a walk to Westfield station on the Raritan Valley Line, about ten minutes on foot down from the park; many trains need a change at Newark Penn for New York Penn or the PATH, so check the NJ Transit timetable for the direct ones.
Lunch back downtown at a Tuscan bakery café on East Broad: bread and sandwiches made fresh each day, two doors from the coffee you had this morning.
The afternoon errand is downtown, on Elm Street, not out on a highway. Groceries and a bunch of flowers, and you are still a walk from the park.
The free hour on a rainy afternoon, a block past the park on East Broad. A makerspace, study rooms, museum passes and a seed library, along with the books.
The big park on the south side of town, a short drive from downtown: two playgrounds, six fields and a pond, and where the after-school hours go when the weather holds.
The Westfield dinner, in the same family since 1969, on Elm Street downtown. The table you book when people are visiting.
The other dinner, on North Avenue: whole fish, swordfish and lobster linguine at a Mediterranean seafood grill.
Dessert next door to Ferraro's: pick the cookies, pick the ice cream, they build the sandwich. Open late, which on a school night is the point.
The Sunday walk up Mountain Avenue to a 1740 farmhouse, with costumed docents and, on the right weekends, open-hearth cooking. It is what Westfield looked like before the railroad.
And back to the bench by the pond. Coffee, the train, dinner and dessert were all a walk from here, and that is the argument for the whole town.
Honest footnotes. None of these places pays me or knows I wrote this. I built this Westfield day from the places locals rate highest and I am walking it myself — tell me what I missed. Hours change; check before you go.
A Union County town with a walkable downtown around Elm Street, East Broad Street and Quimby Street, Mindowaskin Park and its pond up the hill, and a station on NJ Transit's Raritan Valley Line. Westfield was settled in 1720 as the West Fields of Elizabethtown and has been the Town of Westfield since 1903.
Westfield, New Jersey, began as the West Fields of Elizabethtown, settled in 1720; it became a township in 1794 and the Town of Westfield in 1903. The Miller-Cory House on Mountain Avenue, a farmhouse the Westfield Historical Society has opened to the public since 1972, is the place to see what the West Fields looked like before the railroad.
The centre of town is its downtown: Elm Street, East Broad Street and Quimby Street, with coffee, bakeries, restaurants and shops a few minutes on foot from the station. Mindowaskin Park sits at the top of the hill, 12.6 acres with a pond, a gazebo and memorial gardens; like Tamaques Park on the south side of town, it takes its name from the Lenni-Lenape, whose trail ran through these fields.
The commute is the Raritan Valley Line. Westfield station sits between North and South Avenues with a tunnel under the tracks, and many trains need a change at Newark Penn for New York Penn or the PATH, so I always walk buyers through the timetable before they count on a direct train. Route 22 and the Garden State Parkway are a short drive away.
This is a suburb, so the day here mixes walking and short drives: downtown and Mindowaskin on foot, Tamaques Park and the bigger errands by car.
I show homes in Westfield and follow what actually sells here. If you are weighing it against a Hudson County town, the honest comparison is the commute, the property taxes and how you want to spend a weekend; walk this day first and then call me with the questions it raises.
The walk above is a full day in Westfield — coffee, the commute, the park, dinner. Answer four questions and it reorders itself around your morning, or open the route map and follow it yourself.
31,111 people live in Westfield, where the median age is 40.7 and the average individual income is $107,640.
Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
There is plenty to do around Westfield — shopping, dining, parks and nightlife. The three scores below rate how easy it is to get around without a car.
Walk Score®, Transit Score® and Bike Score® provided by Walk Score.
The places within walking distance — where to eat, shop, train and get a haircut. Tap a row to find it on the map.
| Name | Category | Distance |
|---|
Places and addresses from OpenStreetMap contributors. Distances are straight-line from the centre of Westfield. Hours change — check before you go.
Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Daycare through high school, in or next to Westfield. A starting point for comparison — visit before you decide, and call me about catchment lines, which move.
| Name | Type | Grades | Students |
|---|
Public and charter schools from the NCES Common Core of Data; daycare and pre-school locations from OpenStreetMap contributors.
Westfield is one of the neighborhoods I walk, show and sell in every week, so I can tell you what a home here is really worth today, not what a portal guesses.
Read next: How the commute sets home prices in Hudson County
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