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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-MYSTIC-ISLAND-NJ · Mystic Island, NJ 7,616 pop · income 52nd 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 Mystic Island
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mystic Island on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Albion · lowest
40,040
Albion · lowest
40,040 median HH income
22.7% of the leader · rank #1
Mystic Island · this city
71,917
Mystic Island · this city
71,917 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #2
Decatur · near
71,919
Decatur · near
71,919 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #3
Crested Butte · near
71,923
Crested Butte · near
71,923 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #4
Lake Norden · near
71,923
Lake Norden · near
71,923 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #5
Laton · near
71,926
Laton · near
71,926 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #6
Fanwood · highest
176,667
Fanwood · highest
176,667 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 Mystic Island 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: 7,616.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Mystic Island lands in the 52nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
52nd
percentile, household income
63rd
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: Mystic Island, NJ
Mystic Island is a small town in New Jersey, home to 7,616 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Mystic Island households earn a median of $71,917 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.2%. Typical homes in Mystic Island are valued around $290,000, and the median resident age is 56.8 years. Educational attainment runs 24.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 50.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in New Jersey run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Mystic Island'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mystic Island, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Mystic Island?
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Bloomingdale (7,686 residents, $126,221 income); Brigantine (7,702 residents, $88,906 income); Dunellen (7,711 residents, $84,789 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Westmere, NY (7,616 residents); Pittston, PA (7,618 residents); Farmville, VA (7,613 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Mystic Island?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.2%, 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. 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Mystic Island?
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 81.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Above median income · poverty 13.2% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
108.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New Jersey average
F
City profile score · Mystic Island, NJ
34/100
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 C-
$71,917
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.2%
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Mystic Island profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 51/100 (C-) · $71,917
Bachelor's+ share: 47/100 (D) · 24.4%
Poverty rate: 27/100 (F) · 13.2%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
How does Mystic Island compare to other US cities?
Where Mystic Island sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income52% higher than other cities
Home value63% 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 Mystic Island 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 Mystic Island near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mystic Island ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mystic Island only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#566 of 659
14th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#498 of 672
26th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#59 of 680
91st 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
52nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Mystic Island's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$290,00037th percentilemore affordable than 37% 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
Mystic Island's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,803 of 15,516
More affordable than 30% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,436 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.0×, Mystic Island sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,803 of 15,516 and #8,436 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
$71,917Mystic Island, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mystic Island, 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 Mystic Island, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,616
Median Income
$71,917
Median Home Value
$290,000
Median Age
56.8
Poverty Rate
13.2%
Labor force participation
50.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.4%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.8%
Carpool
6.2%
Public Transit
3.6%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
8.4%
Based on 3,253 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 Mystic Island. 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 Mystic Island 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 Mystic Island sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mystic Island 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, 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.