Rutherford was formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on September 21, 1881, from portions of Union Township, based on the results of a referendum held on the previous day.
Rutherford has been called the "Borough of Trees" and "The First Borough of Bergen County".
As of the census of 2000, there were 18,110 people, 7,055 households, and 4,670 families residing in the borough. The population density was 6,451.7 people per square mile (2,488.4/km²). There were 7,214 housing units at an average density of 2,570.0/sq mi (991.2/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 81.99% White, 2.70% African American, 0.04% Native American, 11.34% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.86% from other races, and 2.03% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.59% of the population.
There were 7,055 households out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.5% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.8% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.16.
In the borough the population was spread out with 20.8% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.3 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $63,820, and the median income for a family was $78,120. Males had a median income of $51,376 versus $39,950 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $30,495. About 2.3% of families and 3.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.
Thanks to its easy access to New York City by rail, Rutherford became an early bedroom community. Following the initial wave of settlement in the late 19th century, an additional building boom occurred in the 1920s, when the majority of the borough's current housing stock was constructed.
Public Service brought trolley lines into Rutherford around the turn of the century. The lines extended east to Jersey City, south to Newark, north to Hackensack, and west to Passaic. By the late 1940s, these were replaced by bus service.
After the opening of the Lincoln Tunnel in 1937, the Inter-City Bus Company began bus service direct from Paterson to New York City. The line was taken over by New Jersey Transit in the early 1980s.
Today, New Jersey Transit offers service to New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal 163 (Limited), 190, 191, 192 and 195 routes, while the 76 bus provides service between Hackensack and Newark. Meanwhile, the Bergen County Line train stops at Rutherford's 1898 depot en route from Hoboken to Suffern, with connecting service at Secaucus Junction to New York Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and Newark Airport.
The original Route 17, in the 1920s, came through downtown Rutherford. Following the 1927 New Jersey State Highway renumbering, the new NJ 2 (later NJ 17), was built in 1928, skirting the southeast edge of the borough, between the residential area and the New Jersey Meadowlands.
In 1948, a new bypass road along the southwest edge of the borough was built to bring traffic from Clifton and points west to the Lincoln Tunnel. The construction of the highway spur Route S3 (now NJ 3) caused the demolition or relocation of numerous borough homes. Plans are being made to replace the Route 3 bridge over the Passaic River and to improve the safety of the section of highway that passes through Rutherford. Construction is slated to begin in 2010.