Bound Brook, New Jersey

Area Profile

12,219 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Bound Brook, in Somerset County.

61out of 100
Area Score
Top 48% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 24% of 3,904 cities measured69
Schools2269th of 2,668 cities measured23
GrowthTop 18% of 2,973 cities measured69
Housing affordability3041st of 4,223 cities measured66
Climate2942nd of 4,223 cities measured63
Physical resilience2202nd of 4,182 cities measured55
Access2119th of 4,226 cities measured92
Economic stabilityTop 23% of 4,226 cities measured73
The quick read

Bound Brook ranks in the top 24% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.9% and median household income of $90,571.

In the public schools here, 5% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 9.1 students for every teacher.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 68 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 423% on the prior year.

At a glance

Population
12,219
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$90,571
Top 25% nationally
Density
7,356/sq mi
1.7 sq mi of land
Median age
38.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Somerset County
New Jersey
Metro area
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
Nearest major airport
EWR
21 mi · Newark Liberty Intl
Median home value
$397,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.9% is lower than 66% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.6% over the past year, to 189,234 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$9,442$90,571Top 25%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$5,387$43,127Top 26%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.1%Top 49%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute26.2 minBottom 47%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher27.1%Top 35%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment189,234Top 30%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.2%Top 45%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.6%Top 18%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force196,920Top 30%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation74.9%Top 9%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$86,310Top 17%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$61,430Top 19%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 9%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.9%Bottom 34%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202491k69k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $90,571 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides644,700$39,680
Retail Salespersons202,080$38,280
Registered Nurses197,740$119,720
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners183,030$42,840
General and Operations Managers177,850$157,000
Cashiers173,830$35,950

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Somerset County, NJ, which contains this city.

5% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 25% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 9.1 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
9.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
5.4%
Bottom 4% in New Jersey
Reading proficiency
25.5%
Bottom 5% in New Jersey
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Bound Brook High SchoolBound Brook School District57910.05%15%
Smalley Elementary SchoolBound Brook School District4247.64%25%
LaMonte-Annex Elementary SchoolBound Brook School District37411.3
Community Middle SchoolBound Brook School District2919.78%47%
Lafayette Elementary SchoolBound Brook School District2497.5

81.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against New Jersey’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,973 takes 26% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
26.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,973
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$397,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.38Top 22%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate44.8%Bottom 6%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2954,707Top 12%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$112$1,973Top 9%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$20,438$397,100Top 18%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income26.1%Top 14%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2.2%Bottom 16%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
69/ 100
Top 18% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 4 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 6% since 2020, reaching 12,643 in 2024.

Permit activity has fallen for 4 consecutive years.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

85% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 5.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
68
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.6
Top 27% nationally
Year over year
+423%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
85.3%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202413k12k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20202021202220232024202525558
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−58%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 21°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.5 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SOMERVILLE SOMERSET AP, 7.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation45.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low21°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

55 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and hurricane.

Inland floodingElevated
Strong windModerate
Ice stormModerate
EarthquakeElevated
Heat waveModerate
HurricaneModerate
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, cold wave, tornado, wildfire, coastal flooding, landslide, hail.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Somerset County records 1.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 3.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 9.5 per 100,000 residents in Somerset County.

Homicide
1.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
3.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
9.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
8.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Somerset County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Bound Brook rather than Bound Brook itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 21 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Newark Liberty IntlEWR21 mi9,999 ft
John F Kennedy IntlJFK40 mi14,511 ft
Philadelphia IntlPHL61 mi12,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
61
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Other cities in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
New YorkNew York County8,483,84464vs Bound Brook
NewarkEssex County310,17849vs Bound Brook
Jersey CityHudson County294,07861vs Bound Brook
YonkersWestchester County209,97862vs Bound Brook
PatersonPassaic County158,73543vs Bound Brook
ElizabethUnion County137,30253vs Bound Brook
Toms RiverOcean County94,956vs Bound Brook
CliftonPassaic County89,37961vs Bound Brook
New RochelleWestchester County82,76966vs Bound Brook
Mount VernonWestchester County72,42756vs Bound Brook
BayonneHudson County71,55354vs Bound Brook
East OrangeEssex County70,09050vs Bound Brook

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Bound Brook

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
0880514,066$93,34162