Maplewood, NJ | Small Town Charm with Big City Access
The Village, the Olmsted Park and the Team's Own Backyard
Maplewood Real Estate | A Village, an Olmsted Park and the Hottest Bids in Essex County
Maplewood arranges itself around a triangle few towns can match: a storybook downtown known simply as the Village, a 25-acre park with Olmsted design lineage beside it, and the train station between the two, with Midtown Direct service to Penn Station and Hoboken. Maplewood NJ homes for sale traded at a median of $1,149,503 over the three months ending August 2026, up 25.6 percent year over year per Redfin, across 97 August closings.
No market the team covers bids harder. Maplewood homes averaged 115.4 percent of list price in that window, with 80.9 percent of sales closing above asking, a 14-day median market time and a 92 out of 100 Redfin Compete Score. The sale records read like typos and are not: a Kendal Avenue five-bedroom listed at $1,299,000 closed at $1,740,000 in July 2026, 34 percent over asking, a Richmond Avenue colonial ran 20 percent over to $1,500,000 in September, and a Walton Road seven-bedroom went under contract the day it listed at its full $2,600,000. About one listing in six still took a price cut, so pricing strategy decides which column you land in.
The ladder is wider than the bidding wars suggest. Maplewood real estate runs from co-op and condominium units in the $300,000s, through the Hilton section's capes and colonials in the $500,000s to $800,000s, into the prewar heart of the market, where the median home was built in 1938 and colonials and Tudors trade from about $900,000 to $1.7 million, up to the Wyoming section's estate blocks toward the reservation.
This is the Allison Ziefert Real Estate Group's home market. Maplewood leads the Compass team's three top service areas, Allison has been a local resident for more than 30 years, and the city-to-suburb move that defines this market is the team's specialty. With 25+ years of combined experience, more than 500 five-star reviews and pricing built on street-level comparable sales, the team reads Maplewood's blocks from experience, not from a spreadsheet.
What to Love About Maplewood
The Village
Maplewood's downtown, first known as Jefferson Village, runs a five-minute walk along Maplewood Avenue from Durand Road to Baker Street and packs in galleries, boutiques, an independent bookstore, a movie house and a restaurant row, with Ricalton Square turning into the miniature Dickens Village each December.
An Olmsted Park Between the Shops and the Train
Memorial Park, 25 acres designed in the lineage of the Olmsted landscape firm and listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, sits directly between the Village and the train station, and hosts Maplewoodstock, the free two-day music and arts festival, each July.
One Station, and a Jitney to Reach It
Maplewood's single NJ Transit station sits in the center of town on the Morris and Essex Line, with Midtown Direct trains to Penn Station and direct service to Hoboken, and the township runs its own jitney shuttles from the residential neighborhoods to the platform.
A 2,000-Acre Backyard
The South Mountain Reservation, Essex County's largest reserve at more than 2,000 acres, runs along Maplewood's western edge with hiking trails, a dog park and picnic grounds climbing the first ridge of the Watchung Mountains.
An Arts Calendar, Not Just an Arts Scene
The Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts stages intimate theater year-round, Maplewoodstock fills Memorial Park every July, the Mayfest Street Fair opens summer on Springfield Avenue, and Columbia High School's spring theatrical productions routinely sell out.
The Town That Invented a Sport
Ultimate Frisbee was invented in 1968 by students at Columbia High School, which still anchors the shared South Orange-Maplewood School District, where more than 90 percent of graduates plan on college each year.
Every street here prices differently. Ask the team about the one you have in mind.
Ask the teamMaplewood Neighborhoods and Property Types | A Buyer's Guide
Maplewood's 3.87 square miles divide along its two commercial spines and its western ridge, which is how locals, and buyers comparing houses for sale in Maplewood NJ, actually talk about the town.
Maplewood Village NJ and the Station Blocks
The prewar colonials and Tudors fanning out from Maplewood Village and Memorial Park are the market's beating heart, where a five-minute walk covers dinner, the bookstore and the train. This is where the bidding records live: the Kendal Avenue sale at 34 percent over asking, a Salter Place colonial that cleared $1.58 million off a $1.15 million list, and a North Terrace five-bedroom at $1,700,103. Plan for roughly $900,000 to $1.7 million and beyond, and plan for company at the open house.
The Wyoming Section | Ridgewood Road Toward the Reservation
Climbing west along the Ridgewood Road corridor toward the South Mountain Reservation, the Wyoming section carries Maplewood's estate tier: larger prewar homes on deeper lots under the ridge. The 2026 evidence runs from a Richmond Avenue colonial at $1,500,000, 20 percent over asking, to a Claremont Avenue sale at $2,200,000 and a seven-bedroom Walton Road home that went under contract at its full $2,600,000 the day it listed. Expect roughly $1.3 million past $2.6 million here.
The Hilton Section and the Springfield Avenue Corridor
Southeast of the tracks, the Hilton section holds Maplewood's entry tier: capes, colonials and two-families along the blocks off Springfield Avenue, the township's second commercial corridor, with its own restaurant row, the Park Wood Diner and the Mayfest Street Fair each spring. Sales like a $635,000 Ostwood Terrace cape that ran 21 percent over asking, a $605,000 Lincoln Place close and a $750,000 Suffolk Avenue colonial frame the $500,000s-to-$800,000s band, and the township jitney links these neighborhoods to the Village station.
Condos, Co-ops and First Rungs
Maplewood keeps genuine first rungs that its bidding-war reputation hides: co-op and condominium units like a two-bedroom Elmwood Avenue co-op that closed at $330,000 in September 2026, plus condominium buildings along the South Orange Avenue border and scattered townhome pockets. For first-time buyers who want the Village, the park and the train before the lawn, and for downsizers leaving one of the big colonials without leaving town, this tier is the move.
Maplewood NJ Homes for Sale
Homes the Allison Ziefert Real Estate Group has listed and sold in Maplewood.
Living in Maplewood | Dining, Shopping and Things to Do
Dining
The Village restaurant row earns its regional reputation. Lorena's, the intimate French dining room on Maplewood Avenue, has anchored the fine-dining end for years; Arturo's Osteria & Pizzeria draws its line out the door for wood-fired pies; St. James's Gate Publick House holds down the Irish-pub corner; and Coda Kitchen and Bar, Osteria Lk, Ani Ramen House and Village Trattoria fill out a block you could eat along for a week.
The Able Baker supplies the scones, cookies and morning coffee that count as civic infrastructure here, and the Springfield Avenue corridor carries its own roster, led by the Park Wood Diner, with restaurants on and just off the avenue.
Shopping
Maplewood shops along two spines. The Village packs galleries, boutiques, Words Bookstore and everyday services into its five walkable minutes, while Springfield Avenue handles the longer errand list and hosts the Mayfest Street Fair that opens each summer. For the department-store trip, The Mall at Short Hills is about ten minutes away through neighboring Millburn.
Outdoor Recreation and Things to Do
Memorial Park does daily duty as the town's front lawn, with 25 acres of Olmsted-lineage landscape, fields and playgrounds between the Village and the station, then turns into a festival ground each July when Maplewoodstock brings two free days of live music and art the weekend after the Fourth. On the western edge, the South Mountain Reservation opens more than 2,000 acres of Essex County trails, a dog park and picnic grounds up the first Watchung ridge, and the township pool carries the summer.
The calendar stays full the rest of the year: the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts stages theater and classes year-round, Ricalton Square hosts the Dickens Village of miniature decorated houses each December, and the Wildflower Sculpture Park adds public art to the town's green spaces.
Maplewood Schools
Maplewood and South Orange share one school system, the South Orange-Maplewood School District, with about 7,200 students across ten schools: an early-childhood center, six elementary schools, two middle schools and Columbia High School. Maplewood is home to four of the elementaries, Clinton, Delia Bolden, Seth Boyden and Tuscan, plus Maplewood Middle School and Columbia High itself, on Parker Avenue.
How placement works. SOMSD does not zone its elementary schools. Since 2020 the district has assigned students through its Intentional Integration Initiative, which balances each school's socioeconomic mix while weighting proximity to home heavily; roughly two-thirds of kindergartners are placed at their closest school or one of their closest. The district has been weighing refinements to the model, including possible feeder structures, so confirm the current assignment mechanics directly with SOMSD rather than any map.
How they rate. Columbia High School carries an A- from Niche and ranks 118th among New Jersey public high schools for 2026, with 1,944 students, Middle States accreditation held since 1928, a 1992-93 National Blue Ribbon, more than 90 percent of graduates planning on college, spring theatrical productions that routinely sell out, and the 1968 invention of Ultimate Frisbee on its fields. Maplewood Middle School grades B+ and South Orange Middle School A- on Niche, Tuscan Elementary grades A with a 9 out of 10 on GreatSchools, and Clinton and Delia Bolden rate 8 out of 10. Delia Bolden, formerly Jefferson Elementary, was renamed in 2022 for the 1912 graduate who was the first African-American woman to earn a Columbia High School diploma. Treat every rating as a dated third-party measure.
Maplewood on the Map
- Within
- Essex County
- ZIP code
- 07040
Landmarks on the map
- Burgdorff Center
- Columbia High School
- Maplewood train station
- Maplewood Village
- Memorial Park
- Ricalton Square
Frequently Asked Questions About Maplewood Real Estate
Compare Maplewood With Nearby Towns
Find Your Home in Maplewood
Team
Allison Ziefert Real Estate Group at Compass. Co-principals Allison Ziefert (NJ License 0999509) and Sarah "Ginge" Calhoun (NJ License 1650080)
Office
378-380 Millburn Ave., 2nd Floor, Millburn, NJ 07041
Hours
Weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Weekends by appointment.