Highland Park, NJ

Highland Park is a Middlesex County borough on the north bank of the Raritan River, directly across from New Brunswick. Its location above the river helped give the borough its name, and the river still shapes the local geography. Rutgers University, downtown New Brunswick, and regional transit are close by, so Highland Park has a college-adjacent, commuter-friendly feel. It is compact, compact in places, and more urban than many small New Jersey boroughs of similar size.