Upper Saddle River is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, situated in the Saddle River valley in the northern part of the state, about 28 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan. Its 2020 population was 8,353, and it is one of the region's most affluent, low-density residential communities. The borough's history reaches back to the Lenape people and to Dutch colonists who settled the valley in the 18th century and built mills along the Saddle River, for which the town is named. Upper Saddle River incorporated as a borough in 1894 but remained principally rural for another half-century. Its transformation came in the 1950s and 1960s, when farmland gave way to the subdivisions that define the borough today, and the population surged from about 700 residents in 1950 to nearly 8,000 by 1970. The town's colonial past remains visible in the Hopper-Goetschius House, a 1730 structure now operated as a museum, and in other surviving 18th-century homes. George Washington's troops marched along East Saddle River Road during the Revolutionary War. The community is served by the Upper Saddle River School District for grades K-8—three schools enrolling roughly 1,100 students—and by Northern Highlands Regional High School in nearby Allendale for grades 9-12, a consistently highly rated regional school serving Upper Saddle River, Saddle River, Allendale, and Ho-Ho-Kus. For residents, Upper Saddle River offers a combination of large homes, spacious lots, strong schools, and a genuine small-town feel within a roughly hour-long commute of New York City via Route 17 and the Garden State Parkway. Its character is quiet, scenic, and deliberately low-density, appealing to families seeking space and top-tier schools in northern Bergen County.