Somerset, New Jersey

Area Profile

22,720 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Somerset, in Somerset County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 12% of 3,904 published cities76
Housing affordabilityTop 41% of 4,223 published cities86
Climate2942nd of 4,223 published cities63
Physical resilience2202nd of 4,182 published cities55
Access2150th of 4,226 published cities92
Economic stabilityTop 5% of 4,226 published cities82
The quick read

Somerset ranks in the top 12% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.9% and median household income of $121,028.

Rent takes 21% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.6 times that income.

A typical July reaches 86°F and a typical January falls to 21°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
22,720
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$121,028
Top 10% nationally
Density
3,590/sq mi
6.3 sq mi of land
Median age
41.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Somerset County
New Jersey
Metro area
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
Nearest major airport
EWR
22 mi · Newark Liberty Intl
Median home value
$438,800
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.

62% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 94% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 90% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$9,222$121,028Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,623$60,499Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate4.5%Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute37.1 minTop 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher62.0%Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment189,234Top 30%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.2%Top 45%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.6%Top 18%June 2026
Labor force196,920Top 30%June 2026
Labor force participation71.4%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$86,310Top 17%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$61,430Top 19%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 9%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.9%Bottom 34%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024121k102k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $121,028 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.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $2,121 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
21.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,121
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$438,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.63Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.9%Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±6619,750Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$164$2,121Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$13,518$438,800Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.0%Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2.6%Bottom 18%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 →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

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, 11.9 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 Somerset rather than Somerset 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 22 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Newark Liberty IntlEWR22 mi9,999 ft
John F Kennedy IntlJFK39 mi14,511 ft
Philadelphia IntlPHL59 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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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 Somerset
NewarkEssex County310,17849vs Somerset
Jersey CityHudson County294,07861vs Somerset
YonkersWestchester County209,97862vs Somerset
PatersonPassaic County158,73543vs Somerset
ElizabethUnion County137,30253vs Somerset
Toms RiverOcean County94,956vs Somerset
CliftonPassaic County89,37961vs Somerset
New RochelleWestchester County82,76966vs Somerset
Mount VernonWestchester County72,42756vs Somerset
BayonneHudson County71,55354vs Somerset
East OrangeEssex County70,09050vs Somerset

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
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
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

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.