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This document, titled "Plainsboro Today," provides an overview of Plainsboro Township, New Jersey, highlighting its evolution into a vibrant suburban community with a strong corporate presence. It emphasizes the township's strategic location, robust economy, excellent schools, diverse housing options, and commitment to open space and recreational amenities. The article also notes Plainsboro's high credit rating and recognition as a top place to live and launch a small business.

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--- Document: Plainsboro Today Article ---
1 
 
 
Plainsboro Today 
 
Plainsboro Township has evolved from a placid agrarian to a high-energy suburban community with 
numerous world-class, for-profit and not-for-profit corporations and research facilities.  The prestigious, 
high-profile entities include: Novo Nordisk’s North American headquarters, Firmenich Inc., Munich 
Reinsurance headquarters, Siemens Corporate Research Center, Integra Life Sciences, Novartis, Croda 
International headquarters, Sandoz Inc., Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (fusion energy), Penn 
Medicine Medical Center and health-care campus, Genmab U.S., headquarters, and the Robert Wood 
Johnson Foundation.  In addition, more than half of the town’s total square miles has been set aside as 
open space, an invaluable investment in the quality of the life for those who work and live in the 
community as well as for generations of future residents and employees.   
 
“Having just celebrated Plainsboro’s centennial on May 6, 2019, when we focused on our heritage, 
we now want to focus on our town today and its path forward for tomorrow,” says Mayor Peter Cantu – 
one of New Jersey’s longest serving mayors. 
 
Times have certainly changed over the past 50 years from when Plainsboro native Gale Cantu, the 
mayor’s wife, would ride a horse down Plainsboro Road through a town with 1,600 cows, and only 1,200 
residents. And as much as she is nostalgic about the quaint Plainsboro of her youth, Gale is thrilled with 
how the community has evolved. She also knows what has driven and continues to drive her husband of 
61 years to enable Plainsboro to be the best it can be. 
 
Today’s perspective is a future of enormous promise. Plainsboro has been recognized by New Jersey 
Monthly magazine as one of the top 10 “Best Places to Live” in New Jersey and by Fortune Small 
Business magazine as one of the "100 Best Places to Live and Launch a Small Business."  These 
accolades were due not only to the town’s superb location, but also to forward-thinking governing and 
planning over many years on the part of the town’s leaders, professional municipal staff, and the 
numerous residents working as volunteers to support their community.  
 
According to the 2020 US Census, Plainsboro’s diverse population is 24,084; about 53-percent of the 
residents are foreign born.  Diversity is evidenced by the population breakdown: 58-percent Asian, about 
31-percent White, about 6-percent Black, and about 3-percent Hispanic or Latino.  
 
Location, Location, Location 
 
Plainsboro, which has a land area of approximately 12 square miles in the southwest corner of Middlesex 
County, has what realtors often say is the number one quality sought after by homebuyers and 
corporations: location, location, location. It has an excellent road system with transit accessibility to 
almost any employment, educational, or recreational location in New Jersey as well as within the New 
York-Philadelphia regional corridor.  
 
Princeton University, McCarter Theatre, Princeton Art Museum are 10 minutes away; Rutgers University 
- State Theatre and Zimmerli Museum are 20 minutes to the north; the New Jersey State House in Trenton 
is 20 minutes in the other direction.  A short trip to the east is the Jersey Shore, to the west, the Sourland 
Mountains.  
 


2 
 
The northeast corridor transit hub is minutes away at the Princeton Junction train station, thus providing 
transit access to New York, Trenton, Philadelphia, Washington DC, New Brunswick, Newark and 
Newark Liberty International Airport.  
 
The highways serving Plainsboro include: New Jersey Turnpike, Route One, Route 295/195, Route 130 
and Route 33. In addition, Plainsboro has one of the region’s best local road networks connecting College 
Road to Princeton Forrestal Center corporate park with the Forrestal Village retail and approved 
residential development.   
 
Bus service includes: NJ Transit’s 600 bus route that serves apartment complexes, retail centers, health 
facilities, and connects residents to a near-by train station and to Trenton government offices. The 
hospital provides (through the Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association) free, on-demand 
ride service for Plainsboro residents seeking medical treatment at the Penn Medicine Medical Center and 
other services on the healthcare campus in Plainsboro. Tiger Transit is a Princeton University free shuttle 
bus service open to the general public with stops at the Penn Medicine campus, Princeton Plasma Physics 
Laboratory, Princeton Forrestal Village, and the town of Princeton. 
 
Plainsboro is now the host community to the first-class, renowned hospital Penn Medicine Medical 
Center which relocated from Princeton. The hospital is the main medical entity within the healthcare 
campus of more than one million square feet.  It also includes: an assisted living facility, skilled nursing 
facility, fitness center, medical offices, child care center, senior daycare center, independent senior 
residences, and pediatric specialized care medical facility operated by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 
(CHOP).   
 
The Fiscal Picture - a Thriving Landscape  
 
The advantages of Plainsboro’s location would dim quickly if the economy were simply a black hole that 
swallowed the community’s vitality. Instead, Plainsboro’s economic picture is the bright star in New 
Jersey. 
 
Plainsboro has one of the lowest (effective) municipal tax rates (including open space, library and fire 
district) per 100 dollars of assessed valuation in Middlesex County, and the taxes have remained low 
because of an excellent ratable base of $4.535 billion. 
 
In October 2021, Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings Services announced Plainsboro’s long-term credit 
rating remained at ‘AAA’ and affirmed the ‘AAA’ rating on the township’s existing General Obligation 
debt. The ‘AAA’ rating is the highest issuer credit rating assigned by Standard & Poor’s and means that 
Plainsboro has an extremely strong capacity to meet its financial commitments.  
 
“I am extremely pleased that the township has again received the highest credit rating offered by Standard 
& Poor’s. It is a testament to good fiscal policy exercised by the Plainsboro Township Committee and 
sound management practices of our staff,” says Mayor Peter Cantu. The Standard & Poor’s report 
referenced the township’s strong management, very strong local economy, strong budgetary liquidity, 
strong institutional framework and an adequate debt and contingency liability position.  
 
“The ‘AAA’ rating means that when we borrow money, we get the lowest possible rates; this is 
benefitting the township and our taxpayers by paying less interest than we would otherwise pay if we had 
a lower credit rating,” says Gregory Mayers, Plainsboro’s chief financial officer. It is estimated that fewer 
than five percent of the 565 municipalities in New Jersey receive the ‘AAA’ bond rating from Standard & 
Poor’s. 
 


3 
 
The economic strength of the community directly relates to decades of careful, strategic land use planning 
and implementation. The planning process has enabled Plainsboro to become Central Jersey’s pre-
eminent site for world renowned corporations that have gone through a thorough deliberate analysis 
similar to the one used by the hospital when it relocated. They all have come to the same conclusion - 
Plainsboro is the place to be.  
 
The heart of Plainsboro’s corporate development is Princeton Forrestal Center ‐ Princeton University’s 
Corporate Office and Research Complex. Today, Princeton Forrestal Center represents over 90 percent of 
Plainsboro Township’s commercial tax ratables. The Plainsboro lands within the Princeton Forrestal 
Center represent an economic powerhouse in the region with an approximate annual $7.3-billion-dollar 
economic impact.  
 
 
 
 
  
Founded in 1973, Princeton Forrestal Center is one of the nation's premier university‐associated office 
and research parks. Today it is home to over 225 businesses, ranging from prestigious multinationals to 
start‐ups and academic research facilities, focused on a range of disciplines including life sciences, 
biotechnology, health services, financial services, information technology, engineering, architectural 
services, legal services, pharmaceuticals, energy services, communications, logistics, and philanthropy. 
Plainsboro’s Planning Board has also approved a plan for part of the Princeton Forrestal Center known as 
the Nurseries that will provide a lasting economic benefit to the community. The plan calls for a mix of 
residential, commercial, and office development with a generous amount of open space within a walkable 
“Main Street” design concept. 
 
A-Plus Schools 
 
People and corporations flock to Plainsboro for the excellence of its K-12 schools, thus providing:  
developers’ confidence in their ability to market new housing units; corporations’ confidence in their 
ability to attract quality employees; and homeowners’ confidence in maintaining the value of their homes. 
 
The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District educates over 9,300 students and employs over 
1,300 staff members in 10 schools throughout West Windsor and Plainsboro. The School District is 
consistently ranked among one of the finest in New Jersey. The district is routinely among the top five 
statewide for highest SAT scores with 96 percent of the students going on to college. 
 
Housing – A Solid Foundation 
 
Excellence in the schools would be irrelevant if people were unable to find suitable housing to fit their 
lifestyle and budget. Plainsboro, once again, gets an A-plus grade this time the subject being housing for 
people of all ages, financial means, and physical demands.  
 
Plainsboro has about 10,000 housing units; half are single-family homes, the other half are townhomes, 
condominiums and apartments. “We have a housing type that fits everyone’s style and need,” says Les 
Varga, Director of Planning and Zoning. 
 
Because Plainsboro is a very desirable Route One corridor community, some of the homes are valued at 
more than a million dollars. The housing stock, though, accommodates the middle housing market, with 
$468,000 being the average house price, and several moderately priced rental units, with a median rent of 
$1,663.  
 
The affordable housing rental units are set at rental amounts just slightly above median rents for New 
Jersey affordable housing units. One outstanding example of state qualified rental units is a development 
on Dey Road called The Place at Plainsboro that comprises 70 beautiful, contemporary, low- and 


4 
 
moderate-income affordable apartments. It was built on municipal property through a partnership between 
the town and a developer that created an opportunity for high quality housing construction.   
 
Senior residential communities in Plainsboro are thriving on both sides of Route One. The projects 
consist of hundreds of upscale, age-restricted residential units - homes, condos, and apartments; assisted 
living; and skilled nursing facilities.   Plainsboro Town Center, anchored by the public library, also has 
apartments and townhomes within walking distance to the library, restaurants, medical offices, and 
retailers.  In addition, there is a recently completed age-restricted residential development situated on the 
healthcare campus that includes 260 apartments and 45 townhomes. 
 
R&R&R - Relaxation and Recreation and Restoration 
 
Plainsboro’s commitment to excellence in education, jobs, health care and wellness, land use planning, 
economic stability, and housing, is matched by its commitment to open space and other amenities that 
enhance mental and physical health of every resident in the community.  
 
More than 50 percent of Plainsboro’s approximately 12 square miles is preserved open space. Every 
building project that has been approved during the past several decades has an open space and walkways 
component.  These site open space mandates, plus other building and infrastructure requirements to 
conserve energy, recycle, and educate residents about the urgency of action to slow down climate change, 
resulted in Plainsboro’s prestigious statewide sustainability recognition.  Sustainable Jersey has certified 
Plainsboro at the bronze level of sustainability achievement, for three consecutive program years.  
 
Plainsboro’s public parks provide for both active and passive recreational pursuits. The jewel is the 1,000-
acre Plainsboro Preserve, which includes the 50-acre McCormack Lake, walking trails, valuable wetlands 
and large wooded areas, with an abundance of natural habitats for plants, animals and migratory birds. The 
6,500 square foot Rush Holt environmental education center, managed by Plainsboro Township’s 
Recreation Department, offers many nature and environmental programs. In addition, the township recently 
established a Plainsboro museum dedicated to telling the story of Plainsboro’s rich history.  It is located 
within the restored historic John Wicoff House, the residence of one of the founders of Plainsboro’s in 1919.  
  
Plainsboro also contains an extensive network of pathways that connects neighborhoods with parks, the 
library, the municipal building and the Village Center.  The township hosts one of two public Middlesex 
County owned golf courses. In addition, there are three fitness centers that accommodate all levels of 
exercise needs from those seeking hard-core cross-training to physical therapy and rehabilitation.  
  
The recreational programming under Lenny Celluro, Director of Recreation and Community Services, is 
“excellent and as diverse as any you will find in New Jersey,” in his words. The township presents a 
cohesive roster of programs that in most communities are offered in a patchwork of activities presented by 
different organizations and departments 
https://www.plainsboronj.com/DocumentCenter/View/10970/Winter-2022 
  
Going Forward 
 
“It has been my privilege to serve Plainsboro for almost 50 years, and as good as we think Plainsboro is 
today, I am confident the future will be even more spectacular,” says Mayor Cantu.   
 
For those who would like to play a role in Plainsboro’s future, no matter what your skills or interests, please 
reach out to: https://www.plainsboronj.com/329/Local-Volunteer-Opportunities