Clifton is a middle-class suburban town in Passaic County in northern New Jersey. Surrounding towns are: Elmwood Park, Garfield, Little Falls, Lyndhurst, Montclair, Nutley, Passaic, Paterson, Rutherford, and Woodland Park. Clifton is on the eastern edge of Passaic County ; the Passaic River makes part of its border and some of the neighboring towns are in Bergen County, NJ. Clifton is accessible via several major highways: NJ Rt 3, NJ Rt 46, NJ Rt 19, I-80 and Garden State Parkway. Population of Clifton is about 84,000 and about 18 miles from New York, NY, making it large enough and close enough to NYC to support a good selection of public transportation modes, those being direct train and bus service via New Jersey Transit. Clifton also has a good selection of choices for shopping and while for many years Clifton was predominantly Italian and Polish ethnically, in recent years, has become increasingly diverse. In summary, Clifton ain't fancy but it is generally safe and an easy place to travel to / from as well as meet lots of different interesting people.