House Cleaning Essex County, NJ

Where we work

Newark is the county seat of Essex County, which dates to 1683. The towns we serve lie west and north of the city: Belleville and Nutley along the Passaic River; Montclair on the east face of the First Watchung Mountain; Cedar Grove and Verona between the First and Second Watchung ridges; the Caldwells and Roseland to the northwest; Livingston to the west; and West Orange, Maplewood, Millburn and Short Hills around the South Mountain Reservation.

The homes

More than half of occupied homes in Essex, 55.1%, are rented, and only a third of its 336,962 homes are single-family detached, according to Census estimates for 2020–2024. The housing is also older: the county's median year built is 1958, and in Montclair and Maplewood it is 1938, with more than half of homes built before 1940. Older homes often mean original woodwork, radiators and built-ins that need careful hand detail, and we allow time for that when we quote.

Daily life here

The county park system, started in 1895, now covers more than 6,000 acres: South Mountain Reservation with Turtle Back Zoo, Eagle Rock Reservation above Montclair, Verona and West Orange, and Mills Reservation in Cedar Grove. Midtown Direct trains on the Morristown Line stop in Maplewood, Millburn and Short Hills, and the Montclair-Boonton Line has six stops in Montclair, so many households are out on weekdays, when our Monday-to-Friday daytime visits take place.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024; Wikipedia (county, park and rail-line articles); county parks website.

• Caldwell. Birthplace of President Grover Cleveland (1837); the 1.18-square-mile borough is also home to Caldwell University.
• Cedar Grove. Lies between the First and Second Watchung Mountains; renamed from Verona Township in 1908 and home to 157-acre Mills Reservation.
• Maplewood. Memorial Park, a 25-acre Olmsted Brothers design, sits in the township, which has a Morristown Line station with Midtown Direct service.
• Millburn. Home to the Paper Mill Playhouse, designated the State Theatre of New Jersey, and The Mall at Short Hills.
• Montclair. Six Montclair-Boonton Line stations, from Bay Street to Montclair Heights, serve the township, which sits on the east side of the First Watchung Mountain.
• North Caldwell. ACS 2020-2024 estimates only 2.1% of occupied homes are rented and 87.3% of units are single-family detached.
• Nutley. Borders the Passaic River; Hoffmann-La Roche kept its U.S. headquarters in Nutley from 1929 until 2015.
• Roseland. ADP is headquartered in the borough, which was called Centerville until 1874 and was incorporated in 1908.
• Short Hills. An unincorporated community within Millburn, developed from the 1870s by Stewart Hartshorn as a planned community; its rail station dates to 1879.
• Verona. Lies between the First and Second Watchung Mountains; Verona Park, Eagle Rock Reservation and Kip's Castle Park are in or along the township.
• West Caldwell. Incorporated as a borough in 1904 from Caldwell Township; Essex County College's West Essex Campus is located here.
• West Orange. Home to Thomas Edison National Historical Park and Turtle Back Zoo; Llewellyn Park was established here in 1857.

• Median year structure built for Essex County housing units is 1958 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035).
• 55.1% of Essex County's occupied housing units are renter-occupied (ACS 2020-2024, table B25003).
• 33.3% of Essex County's 336,962 housing units are single-family detached and 7.4% single-family attached (ACS 2020-2024, table B25024).
• 29.1% of Essex County housing units were built before 1940 and 23.5% between 1940 and 1959 (ACS 2020-2024, table B25034).
• Newark is the county seat of Essex County, which was formed on March 7, 1683.
• Essex County has an elected County Executive and a nine-member Board of County Commissioners; it is one of five New Jersey counties with an elected executive.
• Essex County had 863,728 residents in the 2020 census, with a population density of about 6,850 people per square mile.
• The Essex County park system was established on March 5, 1895, and today covers over 6,000 acres of open space with over 140 buildings.
• South Mountain Reservation covers roughly 2,050 to 2,110 acres in Millburn, Maplewood and West Orange; Olmsted Brothers began designing it in 1895.
• Turtle Back Zoo opened in 1963 inside South Mountain Reservation in West Orange and is operated through the Essex County park system.