West New York, New Jersey

Area Profile

52,004 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for West New York, in Hudson County.

51out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 18% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 17% of 3,904 published cities73
Schools2232nd of 2,668 published cities25
Growth2258th of 2,973 published cities35
Housing affordability3936th of 4,223 published cities45
ClimateTop 39% of 4,223 published cities72
Physical resilience3216th of 4,182 published cities29
AccessTop 15% of 4,226 published cities99
Economic stability2522nd of 4,226 published cities55
The quick read

West New York ranks in the top 17% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.8% and median household income of $71,729.

Residential permitting has slowed: 66 units authorized over the past twelve months, 79% below the prior year.

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

At a glance

Population
52,004
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$71,729
Top 43% nationally
Density
52,371/sq mi
1.0 sq mi of land
Median age
37.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Hudson County
New Jersey
Metro area
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
Nearest major airport
EWR
11 mi · Newark Liberty Intl
Median home value
$465,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.8% is lower than 70% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 1.6% over the past year, to 28,941 employed residents.

33% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 74% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,715$71,729Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,980$40,965Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.4%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute37.9 minTop 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher33.5%Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment28,941Bottom 37%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.8%Top 25%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.6%Top 7%June 2026
Labor force30,099Bottom 37%June 2026
Labor force participation70.0%Top 18%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)-0.9%Bottom 7%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.8%Bottom 30%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/068.02.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.8% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202472k66k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $71,729 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.

7% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
10
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
7.4%
Bottom 12% in New Jersey
Reading proficiency
29.5%
Bottom 15% in New Jersey
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Memorial High SchoolWest New York School District2,34515.710%30%
West New York Middle SchoolWest New York School District1,08716.07%44%
Anna L. KleinGuttenberg School District97710.411%29%
Public School Number OneWest New York School District75813.14%30%
Public School Number TwoWest New York School District62112.99%24%
Harry L BainWest New York School District59915.84%21%
Public School Number FiveWest New York School District57014.33%27%
Albio Sires Elementary SchoolWest New York School District51811.34%23%
Public School Number ThreeWest New York School District50611.26%22%
Early Childhood SchoolWest New York School District39530.4

85.8% 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 $1,716 takes 29% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 6.5 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
28.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
6.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,716
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$465,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income6.49Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate23.0%Bottom 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±70021,736Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$56$1,716Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$38,815$465,600Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income28.7%Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.9%Bottom 33%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
35/ 100
Ranks 2258 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, 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 1% since 2020, reaching 52,975 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

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 1.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
66
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.3
Bottom 36% nationally
Year over year
−79%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
84.8%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202453k51k
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
2020202120222023202420251k72
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−82%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 28°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 49.5 inches, including 29.8 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 41, in the Good band, and about 3 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station NEW YORK CNTRL PK TWR, 2.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index64.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation49.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall29.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low28°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10032024 calendar year
Median air quality index41.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
41
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
64
90th percentile index
Days above 100
3
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

29 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Inland floodingElevated
EarthquakeModerate
Coastal floodingElevated
HurricaneModerate
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, strong wind, winter weather, cold wave, tornado, lightning, hail, ice storm, landslide, wildfire.

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.

Hudson County records 1.7 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.0 per 100,000 residents in Hudson County.

Homicide
1.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
1.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
12.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
6.5
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 Hudson 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 West New York rather than West New York 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 11 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Newark Liberty IntlEWR11 mi9,999 ft
John F Kennedy IntlJFK16 mi14,511 ft
New York Stewart IntlSWF50 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
51
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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 West New York
NewarkEssex County310,17849vs West New York
Jersey CityHudson County294,07861vs West New York
YonkersWestchester County209,97862vs West New York
PatersonPassaic County158,73543vs West New York
ElizabethUnion County137,30253vs West New York
Toms RiverOcean County94,956vs West New York
CliftonPassaic County89,37961vs West New York
New RochelleWestchester County82,76966vs West New York
Mount VernonWestchester County72,42756vs West New York
BayonneHudson County71,55354vs West New York
East OrangeEssex County70,09050vs West New York

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
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.

ZIP codes in West New York

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
0709363,758$73,17452