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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-FORKED-RIVER-NJ · Forked River, NJ 4,988 pop · income 69th 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 Forked River
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Forked River on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Princeton · lowest
52,450
Princeton · lowest
52,450 median HH income
23.4% of the leader · rank #1
Davis · near
87,421
Davis · near
87,421 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #2
Goose Creek · near
87,437
Goose Creek · near
87,437 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #3
Forked River · this city
87,455
Forked River · this city
87,455 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #4
Moreno Valley · near
87,477
Moreno Valley · near
87,477 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #5
Stanwood · near
87,477
Stanwood · near
87,477 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #6
Mendham · highest
223,750
Mendham · highest
223,750 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 Forked River 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: 4,988.
Nationally, Forked River sits in the 69th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
69th
percentile, household income
78th
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: Forked River, NJ
4,988 people live in Forked River, New Jersey - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Forked River report a median income of $87,455 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.5%. Home values in Forked River run a median of $404,600, and the median resident age is 48.1 years. 24.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 57.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
New Jersey carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts New Jersey at 108.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Above Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,132 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across New Jersey, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 90.8 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Forked River'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 schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Forked River, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Forked River?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 24.4% 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 Forked River?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Forked River?
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 Mendham (4,977 residents, $223,750 income); Ampere North (4,968 residents, $71,192 income); Brielle (4,960 residents, $167,754 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are The Pinehills, MA (4,988 residents); Princeton, MN (4,988 residents); Shelley, ID (4,987 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Forked River?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.7%. 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.
Above median income · poverty 5.5% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
108.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New Jersey average
D
City profile score · Forked River, NJ
48/100
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 B-
$87,455
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C+
5.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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).
Forked River profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 67/100 (B-) · $87,455
Poverty rate: 62/100 (C+) · 5.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 47/100 (D) · 24.4%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
How does Forked River compare to other US cities?
Where Forked River sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income69% higher than other cities
Home value78% 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 Forked River 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 Forked River near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Forked River ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Forked River only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#462 of 659
30th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#329 of 672
51st percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#213 of 680
68th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#544 of 686
20th 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
69th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Forked River's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$404,60022nd percentilemore affordable than 22% 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
Forked River's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,236 of 15,516
More affordable than 21% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,340 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.6×, Forked River sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,236 of 15,516 and #9,340 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$87,455Forked River, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Forked River, 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 Forked River, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,988
Median Income
$87,455
Median Home Value
$404,600
Median Age
48.1
Poverty Rate
5.5%
Labor force participation
57.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.4%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.7%
Carpool
4.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
2.0%
Work from Home
11.3%
Other
1.1%
Based on 2,251 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 Forked River. 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 Forked River 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 Forked River sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Forked River 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.