Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-BURLINGTON-NJ · Burlington, NJ 9,904 pop · income 59th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Burlington
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Burlington on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Muskegon Heig… · lowest
33,780
Muskegon Heig… · lowest
33,780 median HH income
19.0% of the leader · rank #1
New Baltimore · near
78,000
New Baltimore · near
78,000 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #2
Sublimity · near
78,007
Sublimity · near
78,007 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #3
Burlington · this city
78,009
Burlington · this city
78,009 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #4
Coalinga · near
78,014
Coalinga · near
78,014 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #5
Dupont · near
78,036
Dupont · near
78,036 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #6
Kinnelon · highest
178,102
Kinnelon · highest
178,102 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Burlington on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 9,904.
Nationally, Burlington sits in the 59th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
59th
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Burlington, NJ
9,904 people live in Burlington, New Jersey - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Burlington brings in $78,009 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.5%. Typical homes in Burlington are valued around $221,000, and the median resident age is 37.8 years. Educational attainment runs 26.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 5 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 17% from five years earlier.
New Jersey carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, New Jersey scores 108.8 (Well Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,132 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts New Jersey's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 90.8 out of 100 (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Burlington's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Burlington, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Burlington growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +517 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 5 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
What does the education layer cover for Burlington?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 9 public schools within the city match. 26.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
How far does income reach against housing in Burlington?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Burlington?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Villas (9,897 residents, $74,203 income); Succasunna (9,866 residents, $164,555 income); Kinnelon (9,971 residents, $178,102 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pájaros comunidad, PR (9,904 residents); Mayfield, KY (9,905 residents); Muskegon Heights, MI (9,902 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Burlington?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
74.1%
Work from home
8.7%
Public transit
1.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 4,573 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 8.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
108.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New Jersey average
D
City profile score · Burlington, NJ
41/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income C
$78,009
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
108.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Burlington profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 57/100 (C) · $78,009
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 26.2%
Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.5%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
How does Burlington compare to other US cities?
Burlington measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income59% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Burlington against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to New Jersey only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
New Jersey-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Burlington near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Burlington ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Burlington only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#532 of 659
19th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#597 of 672
11th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#128 of 680
81st percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#520 of 686
24th percentile in New Jersey
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within New Jersey only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
59th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Burlington's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$221,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Burlington's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,761 of 15,516
More affordable than 63% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,983 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Burlington sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,761 of 15,516 and #4,983 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$78,009Burlington, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Burlington, NJ median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Burlington, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
9,904
Median Income
$78,009
Median Home Value
$221,000
Median Age
37.8
Poverty Rate
8.5%
Labor force participation
58.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.2%
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Burlington's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
9,726 residents
2021
9,981 residents
2022
10,039 residents
2023
10,091 residents
2024
10,181 residents
2025
10,243 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
5
housing units authorized
Single-Family
5
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
6
1
5
$0.4M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
4
4
0
$0.1M
2024
5
5
0
$0.1M
Permit volume decreased 17% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.1%
Carpool
12.5%
Public Transit
1.8%
Walk
1.2%
Work from Home
8.7%
Other
1.7%
Based on 4,573 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
New Jersey statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $275
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across New Jersey at $275 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are New Jersey statewide averages, not a meter reading for Burlington. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
New Jersey's BEA cost-of-living index is 108.8 (Well Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Burlington is $2,132/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to New Jersey statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 90.8 / 100 (Very High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a New Jersey statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Burlington sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Burlington compares to similar-size New Jersey cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.