Anthony Licciardello | August 30, 2026
Kennilworth, NJ
Kenilworth is two square miles in the middle of Union County with its own schools, its own borough government, and a Garden State Parkway exit inside its borders. It sits between Cranford, Westfield and Summit and costs materially less than all three. Five sources publish five different prices for it, spanning a hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars — and the most recent transactional figures run well above the number most people quote.
Kenilworth is 2.06 square miles and 8,289 residents at the centre of Union County, running its own school district anchored by David Brearley Middle/High School under a borough government. It has Garden State Parkway access inside the borough and no train station — and that single absence is what keeps it priced below Cranford, Westfield and Summit. Published prices span $440,500 to $624,000, but the transactional figures cluster higher than most quotes suggest: a $602,000 median home price for March 2026 against a $631,594 average sale at 38 days, with the twelve-month average up about 7%. The gap between Kenilworth and its neighbours is closing, and the commonly quoted figure has not caught up.
Kenilworth is one of the more misquoted markets in Union County — five published figures, a wide spread between them, and a widely-repeated number that the recent transactional data has outrun. Where sources disagree here, we show the disagreement rather than pick a winner.
Kenilworth occupies 2.06 square miles with 8,289 residents at the 2020 census, roughly eight miles southwest of Newark and sitting near the geographic centre of Union County. Its two commercial spines are the Boulevard, which functions as the borough's walkable main street, and the Route 22 corridor along its northern edge.
The borough's best-known landmark is a golf course most Union County residents have played and few know the pedigree of. Galloping Hill Park and Golf Course runs along Kenilworth's edge, and the course was laid out in 1928 by A.W. Tillinghast — the architect of Winged Foot, Baltusrol's Lower Course and Bethpage Black. A county public course by one of the most significant golf architects in American history is a genuine amenity, and it is almost never mentioned in Kenilworth listings. The borough also holds Orange Avenue Park and Black Brook Park.
The housing stock is consistent and comprehensible, which matters when you are comping. Kenilworth runs to Cape Cods, split levels, Colonial Revivals and newer traditional homes with colonial detailing, in brick and siding. Roughly 75% is owner-occupied, about 22% rented and 3% vacant — a stable, resident-owned borough rather than an investor market.
And the borough runs a real calendar. The Kenilworth Street Festival is the big one — a car-focused event drawing exhibitors, live performances and street food. Day to day, the Kenilworth Diner is the local institution, with the Boulevard carrying independent restaurants rather than chains. In a two-square-mile borough, a walkable main street is not a marketing phrase — it is most of how people actually live there.
An MLS-fed value estimate across the housing stock, including homes that have not traded in decades. The floor of the published range and the broadest measure — not a transactional figure.
From regional brokerage commentary, alongside a stated range of roughly $300,000 for a starter property to $700,000+ for a larger updated home. No underlying sale count was verified.
With an average sale price of $631,594 and homes spending 38 days on market, across nine houses listed from $539,900 to $1,249,000. This is the most defensible figure on the page — a current-period median with an average beside it and a velocity number attached.
At approximately $390 per square foot with a median 26 days on market — asking rather than clearing, and notably close to the sale median, which indicates a market where listings are priced realistically.
A trailing-twelve-month average, up roughly 7% on the prior twelve months. That appreciation figure is the most consequential number here for anyone who bought a year ago or is deciding now.
Read the shape and one thing jumps out. The two estimate-type figures sit at $440,500 and roughly $490,000. The three transactional figures cluster tightly at $602,000, $624,000 and $631,295. That is not a market with a wide internal spread — it is a market where the value estimates are lagging behind what houses actually sell for, by well over a hundred thousand dollars.
A figure near $565,000 is widely quoted for Kenilworth, including in materials we have published ourselves. Against a March 2026 median of $602,000 and a twelve-month average of $631,295 up 7%, that number now appears to understate the market.
For a seller, an understated benchmark is money left on the table. In a borough that is appreciating and where the gap to Cranford and Westfield is narrowing, pricing off last year's number costs you this year's gain. Comp from recent closed sales, not from a quoted median — including ours.
One caution on any Kenilworth research you do yourself. We found a national platform returning a list of "best and safest neighborhoods in Kenilworth" that was in fact a list of Newark and Jersey City neighbourhoods — Forest Hill, the Ironbound, Weequahic, Journal Square. Kenilworth is 2.06 square miles and does not have named neighbourhoods of that kind. If a source is confidently naming districts here, check what city it is actually describing.
The value estimates on this borough are running more than a hundred thousand dollars behind what houses actually sell for.
A market appreciating around 7% a year, with estimate-type figures anchored near $440K–$490K and closings running $602K–$631K, is a market where an automated valuation will underprice you badly. Get a valuation built from recent closed sales in your own borough — and marketing that reaches the Cranford and Westfield buyers already looking here for value. Backed by the New York metro buyer pool we bring to every listing.
Kenilworth runs its own school district, which is unusual for a borough this size and is a large part of its identity. Warren G. Harding Elementary School serves the younger grades, and David Brearley Middle School and High School carries students through to graduation — a single small secondary school for the whole borough rather than a regional arrangement shared with neighbouring towns. Verify current attendance assignments for any specific address directly with the district.
Now the transportation picture, which is where Kenilworth's price actually comes from. The borough has Garden State Parkway access at Exit 138, inside its own borders — a genuine advantage that most Union County towns do not have, and one that matters enormously if you drive to work. The Route 22 corridor runs along the northern edge, and NJ Transit bus route 113 runs along the Boulevard with service to the Port Authority.
Kenilworth has no train station. The nearest Raritan Valley Line stations are Cranford and Roselle Park, roughly a four-to-six-minute drive, putting a realistic door-to-desk figure in the 65 to 80 minute range depending on connection.
That absence is the single clearest explanation for why Kenilworth costs less than Cranford. Union County prices walkability to a station heavily, and a four-minute drive is not walkability. For a driving commuter, or a hybrid worker going in two days a week, that gap is a discount on something you were not going to use. For a five-day rail commuter it is a genuine daily cost. Verify current schedules and travel times with NJ Transit before relying on them.
The borough government point is worth making explicitly too. Kenilworth is a borough with its own council, its own school board, its own police and its own budget — not a section of a larger township. In a county where several communities are pieces of something bigger, that independence shows up in responsiveness, and it is part of what people mean when they describe the borough as tight-knit.
Most people arrive in Kenilworth from somewhere else on their list. They price Cranford, Westfield or Summit, find the number does not work, and look at what sits between them. What makes Kenilworth different from the usual fallback is that the compromise is narrower than expected — the borough has its own schools, its own government, a walkable main street, a Tillinghast golf course on its edge and a Parkway exit inside its borders. What it does not have is a train station.
Parkway access inside the borough, Route 22 on the edge. You get the county location without paying the rail premium for a station you would not use. This is the clearest case for Kenilworth and it is a strong one.
Two or three days in the city changes the arithmetic completely. A four-minute drive to Cranford station is an inconvenience twice a week rather than ten times — and the price difference is permanent.
Nine houses listed from $539,900 to $1,249,000 in a recent snapshot, with the core of the market well below Cranford's. Kenilworth is where Union County is still enterable — and with roughly 7% appreciation, entering matters.
The five-day rail commuter, honestly. If you will walk to a train every weekday, Cranford is worth its premium and you should pay it. The right answer here depends on how you actually get to work, not on which town sounds better.
And a note on timing, stated plainly. Kenilworth's twelve-month average sale is up about 7%, and the gap between it and its neighbours has been narrowing rather than widening. That is a value case with a clock on it. Nobody can tell you where prices go next — but a borough that appreciates while the estimate-type figures lag is a borough where the published numbers will keep understating it for a while yet. Union County context sits in our county rental report and our Cranford development guide.
Drive from the house you are considering to the Cranford station platform at 7:40 on a weekday morning, and park. Not at noon on a Saturday — at the hour you would actually be doing it. The four-to-six-minute figure is real, but what decides whether Kenilworth works for you is what happens at the far end: whether there is a space, what the permit situation is, and how long the walk from the lot is. That fifteen-minute experiment answers the single question this borough's entire price discount rests on — and almost nobody runs it before making an offer.
"Kenilworth is the most consistently underquoted market in Union County right now. You'll see five-sixty-five for it in a lot of places — including in things we've published — and the March median came in at six-oh-two with a twelve-month average of six-thirty-one, up about seven percent. The value estimates are more than a hundred thousand behind the closings. That's a seller getting underpriced by their own listing site. And the reason the whole borough trades at a discount is one thing: no train station. Four minutes to Cranford, and Union County charges a real premium for walkability. If you drive to work, you're getting the county for less. If you take the train five days a week, pay up for Cranford."
— Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team
Value markets — where the published estimates lag the closings and a seller can be underpriced by their own listing site — are exactly the work I do: I'm Anthony Licciardello, Broker of The Prodigy Team, dual-licensed in New York and New Jersey, a former Director of Community Affairs in the Bloomberg Administration, and a leading broker for cross-border New York–New Jersey transactions.
Anthony Licciardello · Broker, The Prodigy Team · 718-873-7345
We price from recent closed sales in the borough — not from an estimate running a hundred thousand dollars behind the market.
How much do homes cost in Kenilworth, NJ?
The most defensible figure is a median home price of $602,000 for March 2026, with an average sale price of $631,594 and homes spending 38 days on market. A May 2026 list median sat at $624,000 at roughly $390 per square foot with 26 days, and the trailing-twelve-month average sale was $631,295, up about 7%. Value-estimate figures of $440,500 and roughly $490,000 also circulate — those are estimates across the housing stock, not transactions, and they appear to lag the market by well over a hundred thousand dollars.
Does Kenilworth have a train station?
No — and that absence is the clearest reason Kenilworth costs less than Cranford. The nearest Raritan Valley Line stations are Cranford and Roselle Park, roughly a four-to-six-minute drive, putting door-to-desk in the 65–80 minute range depending on connection. The borough does have Garden State Parkway access at Exit 138 inside its own borders, the Route 22 corridor along its northern edge, and NJ Transit bus route 113 on the Boulevard to the Port Authority. Verify current schedules with NJ Transit.
What schools serve Kenilworth?
Kenilworth runs its own borough school district — unusual for a municipality of 2.06 square miles. Warren G. Harding Elementary School serves the younger grades and David Brearley Middle School and High School carries students through graduation, a single small secondary school for the whole borough rather than a regional arrangement. Confirm current attendance assignments for any specific address directly with the district.
What is Kenilworth like to live in?
A 2.06-square-mile borough of 8,289 residents roughly eight miles southwest of Newark, with its own council, school board and police. The Boulevard functions as a walkable main street with independent restaurants including the Kenilworth Diner; the Route 22 corridor runs along the northern edge. Galloping Hill Park and Golf Course — laid out in 1928 by A.W. Tillinghast, architect of Winged Foot and Baltusrol's Lower Course — borders the borough, alongside Orange Avenue Park and Black Brook Park. Housing runs to Cape Cods, split levels and Colonial Revivals, roughly 75% owner-occupied.
The North Cranford Historic District — 948 Properties
Cranford Downtown Development — 2026 Progress Report
Union County Rental Market — Where the Concessions Are
Westfield New Construction & Teardowns
Kenilworth Homes for Sale — Browse Current Listings
Details as of publication for Kenilworth Borough, Union County, NJ, from the sources noted. Place: a borough of approximately 2.06 square miles with a population of 8,289 at the 2020 census, located approximately eight miles southwest of Newark; the Boulevard and Route 22 commercial corridors; Garden State Parkway Exit 138 within the borough; NJ Transit bus route 113 along the Boulevard with Port Authority service; nearest Raritan Valley Line stations at Cranford and Roselle Park approximately four to six minutes' drive with door-to-desk times in the 65–80 minute range; Galloping Hill Park and Golf Course bordering the borough, the course laid out in 1928 by A.W. Tillinghast; Orange Avenue Park and Black Brook Park; the annual Kenilworth Street Festival; and the Kenilworth Diner among the borough's independent restaurants. Housing described as including brick and siding-faced Cape Cods, split levels, Colonial Revivals and newer traditional homes with colonial accents, with approximately 75% owner-occupied, 22% rented and 3% vacant. Schools: Warren G. Harding Elementary School and David Brearley Middle School and High School, under a borough school district. Market figures, each measuring a different quantity: a median home price of $602,000 as of March 2026 with an average sale price of $631,594 and an average of 38 days listed before sale, across nine houses listed from $539,900 to $1,249,000, and a trailing-twelve-month average sale price of $631,295, up approximately 7% on the prior twelve months (Homes.com); a May 2026 median list price of $624,000 at approximately $390 per square foot with a median 26 days on market (Movoto); and a median home value of $440,500 (BrightMLS-fed platform). Regional brokerage commentary separately cites a median home price of approximately $490,000 with single-family homes ranging from approximately $300,000 to $700,000; no underlying sale count was verified for that figure. Note that estimate-type figures ($440,500 and approximately $490,000) and transactional figures ($602,000, $624,000 and $631,295) diverge by well over $100,000, and that a figure near $565,000 is widely quoted for this borough including in our own published materials; sellers should comp from recent closed sales rather than any quoted median. A national listing platform was found returning a list of "best and safest neighborhoods in Kenilworth" consisting of Newark and Jersey City neighbourhood names including Forest Hill, the Ironbound, Weequahic and Journal Square; that content does not describe Kenilworth and is not relied upon here. Household income, per-capita income, age, households-with-children, safety and crime data, and income-to-afford calculations available for this borough have been deliberately excluded, as we exclude such material for every community we cover. All figures are point-in-time and subject to change; medians, averages and value estimates are not appraisals. School attendance assignments, tax bills, assessments and transit schedules must be verified for any specific property. This is general information and market commentary, not legal, tax, or investment advice — verify all current details with the Borough of Kenilworth, the school district, NJ Transit and your own professionals before buying or selling.
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