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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-HAWTHORNE-NJ · Hawthorne, NJ 19,472 pop · income 86th 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 Hawthorne
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hawthorne on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Arvin · lowest
49,984
Arvin · lowest
49,984 median HH income
20.0% of the leader · rank #1
Romancoke · near
118,077
Romancoke · near
118,077 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #2
Medford · near
118,089
Medford · near
118,089 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #3
Delano · near
118,091
Delano · near
118,091 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #4
Mattituck · near
118,092
Mattituck · near
118,092 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #5
Hawthorne · this city
118,093
Hawthorne · this city
118,093 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #6
Orinda · highest
250,001
Orinda · highest
250,001 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Hawthorne on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 19,472.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hawthorne - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Hawthorne lands in the 86th percentile for household income and the 68th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
86th
percentile, household income
85th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
68th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Hawthorne, NJ
New Jersey's Hawthorne is a small town, with 19,472 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Hawthorne households earn a median of $118,093 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.5%. Typical homes in Hawthorne are valued around $499,200, and the median resident age is 42.3 years. About 45.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 69.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 47 residential building permits were authorized in Hawthorne (Slowing), down 20% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Hawthorne reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 894.5 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
New Jersey carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 108.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,132 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across New Jersey, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 90.8 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Hawthorne'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 work and mobility to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hawthorne, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; 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 Hawthorne?
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 5 public schools within the city match. 45.3% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Hawthorne?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.3%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Hawthorne?
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 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Hawthorne?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Harrison (19,599 residents, $82,290 income); Tinton Falls (19,252 residents, $113,844 income); Point Pleasant (19,158 residents, $108,713 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Orinda, CA (19,472 residents); Homewood, IL (19,471 residents); Arvin, CA (19,478 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.
Population change
Is Hawthorne growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +601 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 47 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.
2020 estimate
19,568
2025 estimate
20,169
Period change
+3.1%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hawthorne?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 894.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 61% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
894.5
Violent rate
25.1
Property rate
869.4
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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.
Violent crime A+
25 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income A
$118,093
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A-
2.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A-
45.3%
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.
Hawthorne profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 90/100 (A+) · 25 /100k
Household income: 85/100 (A) · $118,093
Poverty rate: 82/100 (A-) · 2.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 45.3%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Hawthorne sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hawthorne's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Hawthorne highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Hawthorne, NJ (this city): home $499,200, crime 895/100k
Orinda, CA : home $1,804,400, crime 937/100k
Homewood, IL : home $210,500, crime 2,277/100k
Lynn Haven, FL : home $286,700, crime 785/100k
Harrison, NJ : home $450,800, crime 1,987/100k
Point Pleasant, NJ : home $523,400, crime 513/100k
Palisades Park, NJ : home $704,400, crime 713/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Hawthorne compare to other US cities?
Here's how Hawthorne stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income86% higher than other cities
Home value85% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety68% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at New Jersey, Hawthorne ranks #108 of 238 New Jersey cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Hawthorne 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 Hawthorne near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hawthorne ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hawthorne only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#251 of 659
62nd percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#215 of 672
68th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#380 of 680
43rd percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#311 of 686
54th 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
86th percentile nationally for median household income · 68th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hawthorne's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hawthorne's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Hawthorne's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$499,20015th percentilemore affordable than 15% 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
Hawthorne's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,311 of 15,516
More affordable than 27% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,157 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.2×, Hawthorne sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,311 of 15,516 and #2,157 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$118,093Hawthorne, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hawthorne, 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 Hawthorne, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)45.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)69.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
19,472
Median Income
$118,093
Median Home Value
$499,200
Median Age
42.3
Poverty Rate
2.5%
Labor force participation
69.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
45.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
894.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
25.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
869.4
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Hawthorne's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
19,568 residents
2021
19,398 residents
2022
19,398 residents
2023
19,893 residents
2024
20,169 residents
2025
20,169 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
47
housing units authorized
Single-Family
12
detached homes
Multifamily
35
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
59
4
55
$4.4M
2020
61
9
52
$10.6M
2021
51
7
44
$6.6M
2022
55
8
47
$7.9M
2023
47
7
40
$6.1M
2024
47
12
35
$6.3M
Permit volume decreased 20% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.3%
Carpool
5.0%
Public Transit
2.4%
Walk
1.6%
Work from Home
9.4%
Based on 10,923 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 Hawthorne. 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 Hawthorne 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 Hawthorne sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hawthorne 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, FBI UCR, 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.