Andover's housing stock is small-town and modest, reflecting its status as a compact, established borough. Homes are primarily older single-family residences on tree-lined streets, with some newer construction and occasional larger lots on the borough's edges. Beyond the borough, the surrounding Andover Township offers more spacious properties and rural acreage. The overall character is settled and unpretentious, appealing to buyers who want a quiet, established community in northwestern New Jersey rather than the denser, faster-paced suburbs closer to the region's highways and employment centers.

Andover is a compact borough with a clearly defined, walkable center, surrounded on all sides by the larger Andover Township. The borough's neighborhoods are older and established, with homes arranged on a traditional street grid near the commercial core. The contrast with the surrounding township is notable: within the borough, homes sit closer together in a true small-town pattern, while just beyond its boundaries the landscape opens into the forests, farms, and larger lots of rural Sussex County. This gives residents a genuine in-town feel with open country immediately outside.

Life in Andover is quiet, close-knit, and oriented around the small-town rhythms of rural Sussex County. The borough's tiny size means neighbors know one another, and the shared school district with Andover Township reinforces a strong sense of local community. Daily services are met within the borough, in the surrounding township, or in nearby Newton, the county seat. Residents value the peace, the natural setting, and the slower pace, while the Kittatinny Valley's lakes, forests, and trails provide a constant backdrop for an outdoors-oriented way of life.

Andover is served by the Andover Regional School District, a regional public district that it shares with the surrounding Andover Township for students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. For high school, students attend Newton High School in nearby Newton, the county seat, as a sending relationship. This arrangement keeps younger students close to home within the borough and township, while providing a larger regional high school experience. The shared district structure is a defining element of the community's close relationship with Andover Township.

Andover sits near Route 206, the principal north-south corridor through Sussex County, which connects the borough to Newton to the north and toward Interstate 80 to the south. This position provides access to the region's highway network for commutes toward the state's larger employment centers, while the borough itself remains quiet and lightly traveled. As in most of rural Sussex County, travel is overwhelmingly by car, and the community functions as a small residential stop along the region's roads rather than a transit hub.

Recreation is central to Andover's appeal. The Kittatinny Mountains rise nearby, and Sussex County offers some of New Jersey's most significant outdoor destinations, including Stokes State Forest, High Point State Park, and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, all within a short drive. The region's lakes and trails support hiking, fishing, boating, and seasonal outdoor activities, while the surrounding countryside offers open space and scenic views. For residents, this combination of a small borough setting and immediate access to protected natural lands defines the area's distinctive, outdoors-oriented character.