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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-HIGHTSTOWN-NJ · Hightstown, NJ 5,869 pop · income 82nd 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 Hightstown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hightstown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Los Ranchos d… · lowest
70,801
Los Ranchos d… · lowest
70,801 median HH income
35.5% of the leader · rank #1
North Ogden · near
107,425
North Ogden · near
107,425 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #2
Hightstown · this city
107,431
Hightstown · this city
107,431 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #3
Plantsville · near
107,431
Plantsville · near
107,431 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #4
Iroquois Point · near
107,449
Iroquois Point · near
107,449 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #5
Leo-Cedarville · near
107,466
Leo-Cedarville · near
107,466 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #6
Old Tappan · highest
199,250
Old Tappan · highest
199,250 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 Hightstown 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: 5,869.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hightstown - the verdict
Nationally, Hightstown sits in the 82nd percentile for household income and the 74th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
82nd
percentile, household income
70th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
74th
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: Hightstown, NJ
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 5,869 residents in Hightstown, a small town within New Jersey. The typical household in Hightstown brings in $107,431 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Home values in Hightstown run a median of $333,200, and the median resident age is 42.6 years. About 36.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 70.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 2 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier. Hightstown reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 753.8 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 52.8°F with 47.5 inches of precipitation per year and 23.7 inches of snowfall.
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 Hightstown'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 housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to population change to work and mobility to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hightstown, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
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.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Hightstown?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
What does the education layer cover for Hightstown?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 36.7% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Hightstown?
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Vauxhall (5,875 residents, $106,962 income); Belmar (5,861 residents, $92,859 income); Old Tappan (5,896 residents, $199,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM (5,869 residents); Media, PA (5,868 residents); Willow Springs, IL (5,871 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.
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.
What physical conditions frame life in Hightstown?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 52.8°F, with 47.5 inches of precipitation and 23.7 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for New Jersey is 90.8 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
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 Hightstown growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +122 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+2.1%
2025 estimate
6,007
2020 estimate
5,885
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Hightstown?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 68.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.4%
Work from home
10.3%
Drive alone
68.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,473 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hightstown?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 753.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 67% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
653.3
Violent rate
100.5
Total reported rate
753.8
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income A-
$107,431
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime B
101 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B-
36.7%
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.
Hightstown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 80/100 (A-) · $107,431
Violent crime: 71/100 (B) · 101 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 69/100 (B-) · 36.7%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Hightstown sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hightstown'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 - Hightstown highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Hightstown, NJ (this city): home $333,200, crime 754/100k
Media, PA : home $398,400, crime 1,794/100k
Willow Springs, IL : home $370,900, crime 390/100k
Spring Grove, IL : home $371,200, crime 416/100k
Belmar, NJ : home $771,400, crime 1,986/100k
Old Tappan, NJ : home $910,600, crime 239/100k
Mount Arlington, NJ : home $393,400, crime 148/100k
Manasquan, NJ : home $947,100, crime 1,058/100k
How does Hightstown compare to other US cities?
Where Hightstown sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income82% higher than other cities
Home value70% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety74% 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, Hightstown ranks #89 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 Hightstown 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 Hightstown near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hightstown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hightstown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#313 of 659
53rd percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#443 of 672
34th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#540 of 680
0th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#401 of 686
41st 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
82nd percentile nationally for median household income · 74th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hightstown's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hightstown'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 Hightstown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$333,20030th percentilemore affordable than 30% 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
Hightstown's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,193 of 15,516
More affordable than 54% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,002 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Hightstown sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,193 of 15,516 and #6,002 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
$107,431Hightstown, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hightstown, 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 Hightstown, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)36.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)70.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,869
Median Income
$107,431
Median Home Value
$333,200
Median Age
42.6
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
70.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
36.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
753.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
100.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
653.3
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
52.8°F
Annual Precipitation
47.5"
Annual Snowfall
23.7"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Hightstown's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,885 residents
2021
5,883 residents
2022
5,887 residents
2023
5,936 residents
2024
5,988 residents
2025
6,007 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
2
2
0
$0.4M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
2
2
0
$0.6M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
1
1
0
$0.5M
2024
2
2
0
$0.5M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
68.0%
Carpool
15.9%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
4.4%
Work from Home
10.3%
Other
1.0%
Based on 3,473 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 Hightstown. 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 Hightstown 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 Hightstown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hightstown 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.