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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-MERCHANTVILLE-NJ · Merchantville, NJ 3,815 pop · income 72nd 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 Merchantville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Merchantville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Malden · lowest
38,786
Malden · lowest
38,786 median HH income
25.6% of the leader · rank #1
Prospect Heig… · near
91,599
Prospect Heig… · near
91,599 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #2
Turin · near
91,602
Turin · near
91,602 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #3
Merchantville · this city
91,607
Merchantville · this city
91,607 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #4
Gibraltar · near
91,611
Gibraltar · near
91,611 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #5
Pine Island · near
91,612
Pine Island · near
91,612 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #6
Great Notch · highest
151,705
Great Notch · highest
151,705 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 Merchantville 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: 3,815.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Merchantville - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Merchantville places in the 72nd percentile for household income and the 34th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
72nd
percentile, household income
67th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
34th
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: Merchantville, NJ
New Jersey's Merchantville is a small town, with 3,815 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Merchantville report a median income of $91,607 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 12.3%. Typical homes in Merchantville are valued around $316,300, and the median resident age is 36.8 years. About 37.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 69.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 2 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 100% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 1919.1 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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). 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). 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 Merchantville'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 population change to reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Merchantville, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history.
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 Merchantville?
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 1 public school within the city match. 37.0% 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.
Is Merchantville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +417 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +10.9% 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.
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 can the FBI record say about safety in Merchantville?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1919.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 16% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Merchantville?
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 Oakhurst (3,811 residents, $142,727 income); Robbinsville Center (3,808 residents, $131,202 income); Port Reading (3,775 residents, $142,986 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Unicoi, TN (3,815 residents); Booneville, AR (3,814 residents); Nelsonville, OH (3,816 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 Merchantville?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 69.0%. 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. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
69.0%
Work from home
17.6%
Public transit
3.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,999 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Merchantville?
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 3.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.5×
Home value
$316,300
Household income
$91,607
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 12.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
108.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New Jersey average
C-
City profile score · Merchantville, NJ
52/100
5 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.
Violent crime B+
77 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income B
$91,607
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B
37.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
12.3%
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.
Merchantville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 77/100 (B+) · 77 /100k
Household income: 71/100 (B) · $91,607
Bachelor's+ share: 70/100 (B) · 37.0%
Poverty rate: 31/100 (F) · 12.3%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Merchantville sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Merchantville'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 - Merchantville highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Merchantville, NJ (this city): home $316,300, crime 1,919/100k
Unicoi, TN : home $196,500, crime 812/100k
Booneville, AR : home $91,800, crime 2,431/100k
Nelsonville, OH : home $90,700, crime 2,716/100k
Troutman, NC : home $349,100, crime 3,500/100k
St. Anthony, ID : home $199,600, crime 629/100k
Malden, MO : home $88,900, crime 2,278/100k
South Toms River, NJ : home $269,200, crime 959/100k
How does Merchantville compare to other US cities?
Here's how Merchantville stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income72% higher than other cities
Home value67% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety34% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just New Jersey and the picture shifts: Merchantville ranks #177 of 238 New Jersey cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Merchantville 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 Merchantville near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Merchantville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Merchantville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#432 of 659
34th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#466 of 672
31st percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#68 of 680
89th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#397 of 686
42nd 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
72nd percentile nationally for median household income · 34th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Merchantville's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Merchantville'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 Merchantville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$316,30033rd percentilemore affordable than 33% 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
Merchantville's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,791 of 15,516
More affordable than 43% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,114 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.5×, Merchantville sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,791 of 15,516 and #7,114 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
$91,607Merchantville, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Merchantville, 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 Merchantville, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)37.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)69.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,815
Median Income
$91,607
Median Home Value
$316,300
Median Age
36.8
Poverty Rate
12.3%
Labor force participation
69.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
37.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1919.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
76.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1842.4
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
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Merchantville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,824 residents
2021
3,823 residents
2022
3,828 residents
2023
3,850 residents
2024
4,232 residents
2025
4,241 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
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
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
1
1
0
$0.1M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
2
2
0
$0.2M
Permit volume increased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
69.0%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
3.0%
Walk
0.1%
Work from Home
17.6%
Based on 1,999 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 Merchantville. 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 Merchantville 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 Merchantville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Merchantville 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.