Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-OAK-RIDGE-NJ · Oak Ridge, NJ 10,860 pop · income 87th 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 Oak Ridge
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Oak Ridge on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Canton · lowest
34,812
Canton · lowest
34,812 median HH income
19.4% of the leader · rank #1
Sorgho · near
118,688
Sorgho · near
118,688 median HH income
66.2% of the leader · rank #2
Riverton · near
118,708
Riverton · near
118,708 median HH income
66.2% of the leader · rank #3
Oak Ridge · this city
118,718
Oak Ridge · this city
118,718 median HH income
66.2% of the leader · rank #4
Kings Park · near
118,723
Kings Park · near
118,723 median HH income
66.2% of the leader · rank #5
Redstone Arse… · near
118,750
Redstone Arse… · near
118,750 median HH income
66.2% of the leader · rank #6
Maltby · highest
179,276
Maltby · highest
179,276 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 Oak Ridge 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: 10,860.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Oak Ridge places in the 87th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
87th
percentile, household income
79th
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: Oak Ridge, NJ
Oak Ridge is a small town in New Jersey, home to 10,860 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Oak Ridge report a median income of $118,718 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.3%. Typical homes in Oak Ridge are valued around $417,300, and the median resident age is 45.8 years. About 43.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 66.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,132 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts New Jersey's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). Workers in Oak Ridge report an average commute of 36.6 minutes, with 78.3% driving alone and 9.8% working from home. 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 Oak Ridge'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 work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Oak Ridge, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Oak Ridge?
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Manville (10,870 residents, $93,872 income); McKee (10,843 residents, $81,667 income); Lincoln Park (10,901 residents, $119,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Maltby, WA (10,859 residents); Canton, MS (10,863 residents); Martin, TN (10,864 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Oak Ridge?
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 78.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 36.6 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Oak Ridge?
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 2.3%, 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 Oak Ridge?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 43.2% 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 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.
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
$118,718
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A-
2.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
43.2%
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).
Oak Ridge profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 85/100 (A) · $118,718
Poverty rate: 84/100 (A-) · 2.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 78/100 (B+) · 43.2%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
How does Oak Ridge compare to other US cities?
Here's how Oak Ridge stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income87% higher than other cities
Home value79% 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 Oak Ridge 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 Oak Ridge near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Oak Ridge ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Oak Ridge only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#246 of 659
63rd percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#307 of 672
54th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#394 of 680
40th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#340 of 686
50th 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
87th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Oak Ridge's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$417,30021st percentilemore affordable than 21% 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
Oak Ridge'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
#9,022 of 15,516
More affordable than 42% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,504 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.5×, Oak Ridge sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,022 of 15,516 and #1,504 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
$118,718Oak Ridge, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Oak Ridge, 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 Oak Ridge, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)43.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
10,860
Median Income
$118,718
Median Home Value
$417,300
Median Age
45.8
Poverty Rate
2.3%
Labor force participation
66.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
43.2%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
36.6 minutes
Drive Alone
78.3%
Carpool
8.9%
Public Transit
1.7%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
9.8%
Based on 5,593 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 Oak Ridge. 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 Oak Ridge 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 Oak Ridge sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Oak Ridge 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.