Rockleigh, New Jersey
borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, suburb of NYC
Rockleigh (; ROCK-lee) is a borough in northeastern Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 407, a decrease of 124 (−23.4%) from the 2010 census count of 531, which in turn reflected an increase of 140 (+35.8%) from the 391 counted in the 2000 census. Bordering Alpine, a community ranked America's most expensive ZIP Code by Forbes, Rockleigh has a similar residential character, with large single-family homes on large plots of land.
Rockleigh was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 13, 1923 (based on the results of a referendum held on April 10, 1923) from portions of Northvale. The borough was named for a property in Virginia that had been owned by the borough's first mayor.
New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Rockleigh as its 13th best place to live in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 1.01 square miles (2.62 km2), including 1.00 square miles (2.60 km2) of land and 0.01 square miles (0.02 km2) of water (0.69%). Rockleigh is about 25 miles (40 km) from Manhattan in New York City.
The borough borders the municipalities of Alpine, Northvale and Norwood in Bergen County and Tappan in the Town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York.
Demographics
2020 census
2010 census
The 2010 United States census counted 531 people, 75 households, and 58 families in the borough.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Rockleigh, New Jersey” as borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, suburb of NYC. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, suburb of NYC. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1087516. Authority coordinates are 41.002, -73.935. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2010, 2000 and 1923.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Rockleigh, New Jersey”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Rockleigh, New Jersey primary sources, Rockleigh, New Jersey archive and Rockleigh research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Rockleigh, New Jersey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.