Paramus is located 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately 8 miles (13 km) west of Upper Manhattan. The Wall Street Journal characterized Paramus as "quintessentially suburban. Paramus was created from portions of Midland Township, which now exists as Rochelle Park. The name is usually said to be of Native American origin, derived from words meaning "land of the turkeys" or meaning "pleasant stream."

The borough is one of the largest shopping destinations in the country, generating over US$6 billion in annual retail sales, more than any other ZIP Code in the United States. Despite this, Paramus has some of the most restrictive blue laws in the nation, banning nearly all white-collar and retail businesses from opening on Sundays except for gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores, and a limited number of other businesses.

Farview Avenue, located at the highest peak in Paramus, has a clear view of the New York City skyline

​Paramus became one of the "truck farming" areas that helped New Jersey earn its nickname as the "Garden State". By 1940, Paramus' population was just 4,000, with no town center and 94 retail establishments. Although the opening of the George Washington Bridge in 1931 and the widening of New Jersey Route 17 and New Jersey Route 4 (which intersect in southern Paramus), made the area accessible to millions, "it was not until the 1950s that massive development hit this section of northern New Jersey"

During the 1950s and 1960s, Paramus, lacking any master plan until 1969, was redeveloped into two shopping corridors when its farmers and outside developers saw that shopping malls were more lucrative than produce farming. "It was a developer's dream: flat cleared land adjacent to major arterials and accessible to a growing suburban population and the country's largest city – with no planning restrictions".[46] New York had a state sales tax, but New Jersey had none, so with the opening of Manhattan department stores in the Bergen Mall (1957), the Garden State Plaza (1957) and Alexander's (1961), Paramus became the "first stop outside New York City for shopping".[46] From 1948–58, the population of Paramus increased from 6,000 to 23,000, the number of retail establishments tripled from 111 to 319, and annual retail sales increased twenty-fold, from $5.5 million to $112 million. By the 1980s, when the population had increased slightly over 1960s levels, retail sales had climbed to $1 billion.
Due to the strict blue laws in Paramus, malls (and almost all retail establishments) in the borough are closed on Sunday except for restaurants and other exempted establishments. Stores may not open before 7:00 AM or remain open after 11:00 PM

Paramus was the scene of one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S. when an outbreak at the New Jersey Veterans Home killed 72 people, all former soldiers, on May 10, 2020

Education​
The Paramus Public Schools serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of eight schools, had an enrollment of 3,811 students and 327.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.7:1. Schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[176]) are Memorial Elementary School (with 311 students; in grades K–4), Midland Elementary School (193; K–4), Parkway Elementary School[179] (310; PreK–4), Ridge Ranch Elementary School[180] (346; K–4), Stony Lane Elementary School (176; K–4), East Brook Middle School[182] (588; 5–8), West Brook Middle School[183] (583; 5–8) and Paramus High School (1,265; 9–12). Three of the district's schools have been formally recognized with the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence: Paramus High School in 1988–89, Parkway Elementary School in 1987–88 and Ridge Ranch Elementary School in 1998–99.

Public school students from the borough, and all of Bergen County, are eligible to attend the secondary education programs offered by the Bergen County Technical Schools, which include the Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, and the Bergen Tech campus in Teterboro or Bergen Tech campus in Paramus. The district offers programs on a shared-time or full-time basis, with admission based on a selective application process and tuition covered by the student's home school district.

Paramus is home to many private religious schools. Paramus Catholic High School is a co-educational Roman Catholic high school founded in 1965 and operated by the Archdiocese of Newark. With more than 1,500 students, it has the largest enrollment of any Roman Catholic high school in the state of New Jersey. It is also the location of Visitation Academy, a Pre K3-8 Catholic school also overseen by the Newark Archdiocese.

K-8 co-ed Jewish day schools in Paramus include Yavneh Academy;[194] Yeshivat Noam, founded in 2001;[195] and Ben Porat Yosef, which was established in 2001 and relocated to Paramus in 2008.[196] Frisch School is a Modern Orthodox Jewish yeshiva serving grades 9–12 that describes itself as the nation's second-largest coed yeshiva high school.

Bergen Community College is based in Paramus, with other satellite centers located around the county. The bulk of the college's 17,000 students working towards degrees are located at the main campus in Paramus. The Bergen campus of Berkeley College is located in Paramus. There is also a DeVry University campus located at the 35 Plaza Shopping Center in Paramus.[200] There is a Lincoln Tech campus at The Outlets at Bergen Town Center.

Paramus is home to four special education schools. New Alliance Academy, located on Midland Ave, provides educational and ancillary therapeutic services for high school teenagers experiencing acute psychological distress. The EPIC School (Educational Partnership for Instructing Children) is located on North Farview Avenue, next to the Our Lady of Visitation Church.The Alpine Learning Group is located on County Route 62, close to Linwood Avenue,[204] and P.R.I.D.E. School, which is a part of the ECLC school, which serves three other locations in New Jersey, has a location on Sette Drive. The Bergen County Special Services School District, which provides public special education services on a countywide basis, is headquartered in Paramus.

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