TODD AND LAUREN FORMAN last year found themselves facing a decision that confronts many young and growing families living in Manhattan: stay or go?

Like many dyed-in-the-wool urbanites trying to stay as connected to the city as possible, the Formans found their solution in Tenafly, N.J..

A few minutes north of the George Washington Bridge, this hilly Bergen County borough on the Palisades has been popular with affluent professionals seeking a more suburban setting with large houses and expansive properties, while remaining close to the city.

Another bonus is the school system, consistently rated among New Jersey’s most successful. It has helped make the borough a magnet for education-oriented families from increasingly varied ethnic backgrounds.

At back-to-school night at Tenafly High School last month, Dr. Alexa Gottdiener said she was amazed by the facilities and backgrounds of the faculty members who would be teaching her freshman son, Ben, this year.

“Everyone is incredibly accessible, and the teachers seem really happy and motivated,” said Dr. Gottdiener, chief of medicine at Englewood Hospital.

Unlike the Formans, who are just getting to know this borough of 14,300 people since their move in August, the Gottdieners moved from Chicago in 1997. The Formans’ home, for which they paid $1.5 million, is an almost new 4,000-square-foot five-bedroom colonial. The Gottdieners are now in their second Tenafly home, having lived until last summer in a 1940s house on the east side, then moved after finding what Dr. Gottdiener called “one of the town’s 100-year-old gems”: a recently restored five-bedroom stone house close to the town center. They paid $2.05 million.

The Gottdieners’ house is something of an anomaly. The borough does have its historic houses, as well as two historic districts requiring official approval of any exterior change to homes. But the tendency in recent years has been to knock down the more modest homes built in the middle of the last century, and replace them with double-height mansions. Mayor Peter Rustin sees overdevelopment as one of Tenafly’s most pressing issues.

“Everyone wants to be the last one to build a new home, with no one else coming after them,” said the mayor, acknowledging the occasional controversy over teardown proposals.

Tenafly has strict construction codes for home setbacks and tree replacement, but builders like Russell Porrino are still drawn to speculative work there, despite an overall slowdown in such construction.

“The demographics are very strong,” said Mr. Porrino, who is also a broker with Friedberg Properties. “You have a very affluent, very international community. There are people who want Tenafly and won’t go anywhere else.”

WHAT YOU’LL FIND

“There’s a tremendous mix in Tenafly,” said Bobby Thompson, a 71-year-old roofing contractor who is a lifelong resident. “It makes Tenafly exciting to have such a mix like this where everyone gets along so well.”

The 4.6-square-mile borough is bounded by Cresskill to the north, Englewood to the south and Bergenfield to the west. Census data have identified five languages besides English as the first spoken at home; the leaders are Korean (18 percent) and Hebrew (5.6 percent).

The large Jewish population has a range of synagogues to choose from, in addition to the Kaplen Jewish Community Center on the Palisades. While not particularly devout, Mr. Forman said he “knew there was a good, vibrant Jewish community here.” His son goes to preschool  at the community center, while his wife has found the women at the center “extremely nice.”

Houses on East Hill, where most lots are close to an acre in size, were once the most sought after, said Jeri Green, a broker with Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty. But “in today’s world,” he said, “people are lucky to live in any part of Tenafly. And there’s something to be said for living closer together.”

Over the years, the borough has been home to professional athletes, including Yogi Berra, and actors, including Ed Harrisand Paul and Mira Sorvino. The homes of two of its most notable historic figures — the suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stantonand the bandleader Glenn Miller — are registered landmarks.

An effort to build a large supermarket on a former industrial site downtown was defeated a few years back. In its place is a 128-unit gated condominium complex, the Plazaat Tenafly, with prices ranging from $300,000 to $800,000.

Other condo projects include the Crossings at Tenafly, Victoria Square and the Heights, whose 35 town houses range in size from 3,700 to 5,100 square feet and cost from $1.2 million to $1.55 million. Condos are cheaper in the historic Cotswold building (where Glenn Miller once lived) and the Browning House, once the high school.

WHAT YOU’LL PAY

The median household income is $109,887 (the state average is $67,142), so first-time buyers may not find much in their range. Mr. Thompson’s one regret, for instance, is that his four grown daughters cannot afford to buy homes here. Even though housing prices have softened, desirable homes are still selling in the $1 million range and up. There are 110 single-family homes and 55 town houses or condos on the market. The average sale price of a single-family house in the first nine months of 2009 was $873,973, versus $915,581 for the same time frame in 2008, according to the New Jersey Multiple Listing Service. The average sale price for a condominium dropped to $519,167 from $667,815 during that period. The least expensive single-family listing is an early 1900s two-bedroom one-bath house on a tiny lot, on the market for $215,000. The highest price, $3.998 million, is on a six-bedroom six-and-a-half-bath 2005 Georgian colonial.

Jonathan Damashek, another recent Manhattan transplant, said he had watched the listings since last fall, waiting for prices to drop. In April he and his wife, Jennifer, moved quickly on a 7,500-square-foot house built in East Hill three years ago (on a teardown site), paying $2.065 million, which Mr. Damashek called a “good price.”

Taxes are high. On a 1980s six-bedroom house on a half acre being sold for $1.149 million, they are $21,590 a year.

THE COMMUTE

Driving is the preferred commuting method, given that Tenafly is five to eight minutes from the George Washington Bridge, via Route 9W or the Palisades Parkway. Traffic can be brutal on the bridge, but Mr. Damashek says that if he leaves home by 6:15 a.m., he can be in his law office in Midtown in 30 minutes. There is no rail service from Tenafly, although there has been discussion of an area light-rail line. Some commuters take buses — either New Jersey Transitor Coach — or drive to Edgewater Landing for a ferry ride into the city.

WHAT TO DO

Tenafly’s bustling downtown has various one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants as well as an art-movie house and a hotel. Cafe Angelique, in the historic train station building, is a major gathering place on weekends. Some residents are drawn to nearby Englewood for its vibrant downtown scene.

The borough’s comprehensive recreation program, with its numerous sports teams and park facilities, serves a large percentage of the population. The soccer program alone has 869 children, according to Jerry O’Brien, the recreation chairman and a broker at Coldwell Banker. Tenafly also has a golfclub and two outdoor swim clubs.

Opposite the station building, Huyler Park serves as an events hub. Among other outdoor offerings are the Davis Johnson Park and Garden and the Tenafly Nature Center, a 380-acre park at the top of East Hill that has hiking and cross-country skitrails.

THE SCHOOLS

The schools consistently rank among the top five in the state. The four elementary schools are Mackay, Maugham, Smith and Stillman. The middle school has an enrollment of 850.

Tenafly High School, with 1,136 students, was named a Blue Ribbon School by the federal government in 2005. It offers 21 Advanced Placement classes. SAT averages last year were 623 in math, 583 in reading and 595 in writing, versus 514, 492 and 494 statewide.

THE HISTORY

      
Historic Railroad Station in Tenafly                                                                    Cafe Angelic Inside the Railroad Station
        
Roosevelt Commons during the Spring                                                      Tenafly Cinema