08544 — Princeton, New Jersey
Area Profile
Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 08544.
Missing required signal: opportunity. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.
160 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 14% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.
Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, hurricane and strong wind.
A typical July reaches 86°F and a typical January falls to 24°F, on thirty-year normals.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 78% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.
Employment grew 0.4% over the past year, to 15,342 employed residents.
91% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 99% of measured US ZIP areas.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per capita income ±$6,959 | $15,335 | Bottom 3% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 100.0% | Top 1% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 15.8 min | Bottom 5% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 90.7% | Top 1% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 15,342 | Bottom 11% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | 0.3% | Top 46% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | 0.4% | Top 23% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 15,930 | Bottom 11% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 50.8% | Bottom 21% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $82,560 | Top 13% | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $63,490 | Top 9% | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | -0.9% | Bottom 9% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.7% | Bottom 22% | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Business Operations Specialists, All Other | 5,570 | $89,370 |
| Registered Nurses | 5,180 | $99,990 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 4,920 | $37,760 |
| Cashiers | 4,800 | $34,710 |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 4,460 | $37,560 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 4,300 | $34,720 |
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 Princeton, NJ, the city containing this ZIP code.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →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.
At 5.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.
The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Princeton, 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 86°F and January a low of 24°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 45.6 inches, including 26.6 inches of snow.
Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and about 5 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| 90th percentile air quality index | 71.0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Annual precipitation | 45.6" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall | 26.6" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 24°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 86°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 6 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Days above AQI 100 | 5 | 2024 calendar year |
| Median air quality index | 43.0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 44°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
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
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and strong wind.
Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, heat wave, 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. 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.
Safety
How it’s measured →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.
Mercer County records 4.5 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 5.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 23.8 per 100,000 residents in Mercer County.
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 Mercer 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 08544 rather than 08544 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 35 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newark Liberty Intl | EWR | 35 mi | 9,999 ft |
| Philadelphia Intl | PHL | 45 mi | 12,000 ft |
| John F Kennedy Intl | JFK | 50 mi | 14,511 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.
Customize your score
What matters to you?
Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.
Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| Climate | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System Daily Air Quality Index by county | 2024 calendar year | Annually, 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.
08544 vs Princeton
How this ZIP area compares with Princeton as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.
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.