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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-MOUNTAIN-LAKES-NJ · Mountain Lakes, NJ 4,535 pop · income 99th 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 Mountain Lakes
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mountain Lakes on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Donora · lowest
42,851
Donora · lowest
42,851 median HH income
17.1% of the leader · rank #1
Mountain Lakes · this city
250,001
Mountain Lakes · this city
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Castle Hill · highest
250,001
Castle Hill · highest
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Alamo · near
250,001
Alamo · near
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Atherton · near
250,001
Atherton · near
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Bell Canyon · near
250,001
Bell Canyon · near
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Belvedere · near
250,001
Belvedere · near
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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Mountain Lakes 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: 4,535.
Nationally, Mountain Lakes sits in the 99th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
99th
percentile, household income
96th
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: Mountain Lakes, NJ
4,535 people live in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. ACS top-codes median household income at $250,000 or more, so Mountain Lakes is published at that ceiling rather than as an exact annual figure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Mountain Lakes's housing stock carries a median value of $915,100, and the median resident age is 43.6 years. 84.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 65.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Mountain Lakes (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,132 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across New Jersey, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Mountain Lakes'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 work and mobility to schools and households to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mountain Lakes, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits.
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
What does the journey to work look like in Mountain Lakes?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 58.9%. 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.
What does the education layer cover for Mountain Lakes?
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 4 public schools within the city match. 84.4% 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 Mountain Lakes?
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 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Mountain Lakes?
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 Mullica Hill (4,561 residents, $133,750 income); Buena (4,500 residents, $78,393 income); Landing (4,499 residents, $125,407 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Donora, PA (4,536 residents); Jim Thorpe, PA (4,534 residents); Horseshoe Bay, TX (4,534 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 Mountain Lakes growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +182 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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
4,467
2025 estimate
4,649
Period change
+4.1%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Top-coded income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
108.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New Jersey average
Note: Census ACS censors the tails of median household income ($250,000+ / under $2,500) and median home value ($2,000,000+ / under $10,000).
Mountain Lakes's income is shown as $250,000+ - a bound shared with other high-income places, not an exact annual figure.
B+
City profile score · Mountain Lakes, NJ
78/100
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 A+
$250,000+
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A+
84.4%
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).
Mountain Lakes profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $250,000+
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 100/100 (A+) · 84.4%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
How does Mountain Lakes compare to other US cities?
Where Mountain Lakes sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income99% higher than other cities
Home value96% 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 Mountain Lakes 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 Mountain Lakes near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mountain Lakes ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mountain Lakes only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1 of 659
98th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#46 of 672
93rd percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#540 of 680
0th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#12 of 686
98th 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
99th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Mountain Lakes's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$915,1004th percentilemore affordable than 4% 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
Mountain Lakes's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,575 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,641 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.7×, Mountain Lakes sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,575 of 15,516 and #7,641 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
$250,000+Mountain Lakes, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mountain Lakes, 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 Mountain Lakes, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)84.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,535
Median Income
$250,000+
Median Home Value
$915,100
Median Age
43.6
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
65.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
84.4%
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Mountain Lakes's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,467 residents
2021
4,577 residents
2022
4,612 residents
2023
4,639 residents
2024
4,639 residents
2025
4,649 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
17
17
0
$5.4M
2020
14
14
0
$2.8M
2021
12
12
0
$1.9M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
4
0
4
$0.2M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
58.9%
Carpool
3.5%
Public Transit
6.2%
Walk
0.2%
Work from Home
30.7%
Based on 2,039 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 Mountain Lakes. 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 Mountain Lakes 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 Mountain Lakes sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mountain Lakes 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.