07055Passaic, New Jersey

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 07055.

47out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 9% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity4228th of 6,210 published ZIP areas46
Schools3371st of 4,422 published ZIP areas31
Growth2873rd of 5,428 published ZIP areas49
Housing affordability6525th of 6,685 published ZIP areas31
ClimateTop 47% of 6,789 published ZIP areas71
Physical resilience4785th of 6,709 published ZIP areas36
AccessTop 22% of 6,791 published ZIP areas98
Economic stability4213th of 6,742 published ZIP areas53
The quick read

Housing costs more relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 32% of median household income and the median home is 7.8 times it.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, earthquake and hurricane.

A major airport is 12 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
70,002
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$55,371
Bottom 22% nationally
Density
22,372/sq mi
3.1 sq mi of land
Median age
31.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Passaic
New Jersey
Metro area
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
Nearest major airport
EWR
12 mi · Newark Liberty Intl
Median home value
$429,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 31% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 1.6% over the past year, to 31,147 employed residents.

Median household income of $55,371 is below 78% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,988$55,371Bottom 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$938$24,489Bottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate22.9%Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute27.7 minTop 50%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher16.7%Bottom 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment31,147Bottom 32%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.8%Top 38%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.6%Top 7%June 2026
Labor force32,762Bottom 33%June 2026
Labor force participation66.0%Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$86,310Top 13%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$61,430Top 15%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.4%Bottom 3%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 31%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202458k49k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $55,371 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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Passaic, NJ, the city containing this ZIP code.

6% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.2 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
18
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
6.0%
Bottom 13% in New Jersey
Reading proficiency
28.7%
Bottom 22% in New Jersey
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Passaic High School No. 12Passaic City School District2,48415.13%22%
Mahatma Gandhi School Number 25Passaic City School District90317.7
William B. Cruise Memorial School No. 11Passaic City School District80511.53%18%
Mario Drago School No. 3Passaic City School District77611.13%23%
Martin Luther King Jr. School No. 6Passaic City School District75410.63%17%
Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy School No. 20Passaic City School District74213.513%43%
Passaic Preparatory AcademyPassaic City School District71013.78%62%
Passaic Academy for Science and EngineeringPassaic City School District65012.327%67%
Ellen Ochoa School Number 22Passaic City School District61311.4
Daniel F. Ryan Elementary School No. 19Passaic City School District59011.13%18%
Sonia Sotomayor School #21Passaic City School District49910.43%13%
Muhammad Ali School Number 23Passaic City School District4428.3

99.2% 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 $1,465 takes 32% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 7.8 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
31.7%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
7.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,465
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$429,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income7.76Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate23.8%Bottom 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±55421,693Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$40$1,465Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$22,327$429,900Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income31.7%Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2.5%Bottom 10%2024 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
49/ 100
Ranks 2873 of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

73% 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 1.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
93
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.3
Bottom 31% nationally
Year over year
+41%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
73.1%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Passaic, NJ, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 26°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 46.3 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 38, in the Good band, and about 2 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station TETERBORO AP, 3.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index61.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation46.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low26°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10022024 calendar year
Median air quality index38.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
38
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
61
90th percentile index
Days above 100
2
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

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. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

36 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Inland floodingElevated
LightningModerate
EarthquakeElevated
HurricaneModerate
LandslideModerate
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, winter weather, heat wave, cold wave, tornado, ice storm, coastal flooding, wildfire, hail, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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.

Passaic County records 3.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 4.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.4 per 100,000 residents in Passaic County.

Homicide
3.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
4.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
5.6
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 Passaic 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 07055 rather than 07055 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 12 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Newark Liberty IntlEWR12 mi9,999 ft
John F Kennedy IntlJFK24 mi14,511 ft
New York Stewart IntlSWF45 mi11,817 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
47
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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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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.

07055 vs Passaic

How this ZIP area compares with Passaic as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

07055
Passaic
Median household income
$55,371
vs
$55,371
Per capita income
$24,489
vs
$24,489
Population density
22,372/sq mi
vs
22,343/sq mi
Median home value
$429,900
vs
$429,900
Median gross rent
$1,465
vs
$1,465
Homeownership rate
23.8%
vs
23.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher
16.7%
vs
16.7%
Poverty rate
22.9%
vs
22.9%
Median age
31.9
vs
31.9

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.