Bergenfield was formed on the basis of a referendum held on June 25, 1894, from portions of Englewood Township and Palisades Township at the height of the "boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County.
New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Bergenfield as its 231st best place to live in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.
Bergenfield is informally known as the Little Manila of Bergen County. Of the 14,224 Filipino population in the county as a whole, 3,133 (22% of the county total) live in Bergenfield.
As of the census of 2000, there were 26,247 people, 8,981 households, and 6,753 families residing in the borough. The population density was 9,065.4 people per square mile (3,494.5/km). There were 9,147 housing units at an average density of 3,159.3/sq mi (1,217.8/km). The racial makeup of the borough was 62.90% White (16,509 Whites), 6.90% African American (1,811 African Americans), 0.24% Native American (63 Native Americans), 20.41% Asian (5,357 Asian), 0.02% Pacific Islander (5 Pacific Islander), 6.47% from other races (1,696 others), and 3.06% from two or more races (803 multiple races). Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.05% of the population.(4,475 Hispanic or Latino). (NOTE: Some races overlap.)
There were 8,981 households out of which 36.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.8% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.8% were non-families. 20.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.41.
In the borough the population was spread out with 24.8% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.2 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $62,172, and the median income for a family was $71,187 (these figures had risen to $73,803 and $87,358 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $42,074 versus $35,137 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $24,706. About 2.6% of families and 3.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.
New Jersey Transit bus service is available from Bergenfield to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 166, 167 routes and the George Washington Bridge Bus Station on the 186 route; and to other New Jersey communities served on the 753, 756 and 772 routes.
Main roads include Washington Avenue, Main Street, and New Bridge Road.