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-OAKLAND-NJ · Oakland, NJ 12,700 pop · income 96th 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 Oakland
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Oakland on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Holiday City-… · lowest
47,855
Holiday City-… · lowest
47,855 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #1
Canjilon · near
162,813
Canjilon · near
162,813 median HH income
85.3% of the leader · rank #2
Incline · near
162,821
Incline · near
162,821 median HH income
85.3% of the leader · rank #3
South Lansing · near
162,846
South Lansing · near
162,846 median HH income
85.3% of the leader · rank #4
Oakland · this city
162,862
Oakland · this city
162,862 median HH income
85.3% of the leader · rank #5
Lewisburg · near
162,958
Lewisburg · near
162,958 median HH income
85.4% of the leader · rank #6
Haddonfield · highest
190,882
Haddonfield · highest
190,882 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 Oakland 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: 12,700.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Oakland - the verdict
Nationally, Oakland sits in the 96th percentile for household income and the 90th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
96th
percentile, household income
88th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
90th
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: Oakland, NJ
New Jersey's Oakland is a small town, with 12,700 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Oakland brings in $162,862 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.4%. Home values in Oakland run a median of $567,200, and the median resident age is 41.9 years. 54.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 65.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 14 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 133% from five years earlier. Oakland reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 370.8 crimes per 100,000 residents, below 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: 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. 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 Oakland'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 population change to housing and income to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Oakland, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, 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.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Oakland?
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 Red Bank (12,864 residents, $101,738 income); Freehold (12,504 residents, $82,183 income); Holiday City-Berkeley (12,896 residents, $47,855 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Marysville, CA (12,703 residents); Kelso, WA (12,697 residents); Stony Point, NY (12,694 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Oakland?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.3%. 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +140 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 14 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Oakland?
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 1.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Oakland?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 370.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 84% 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.
Total reported rate
370.8
Violent rate
30.9
Property rate
339.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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 5 public schools within the city match. 54.4% 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.
Poverty estimate
1.4%
Bachelor's degree+
54.4%
Matched public schools
5
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Top-decile income · poverty 1.4% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
108.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New Jersey average
B+
City profile score · Oakland, NJ
76/100
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.
Household income A+
$162,862
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A+
1.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime A
31 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A
54.4%
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.
Oakland profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $162,862
Poverty rate: 90/100 (A+) · 1.4%
Violent crime: 89/100 (A) · 31 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 88/100 (A) · 54.4%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Oakland sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Oakland'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 - Oakland highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Oakland, NJ (this city): home $567,200, crime 371/100k
Marysville, CA : home $282,700, crime 2,806/100k
Kelso, WA : home $302,300, crime 2,163/100k
Jerome, ID : home $214,900, crime 806/100k
Red Bank, NJ : home $477,000, crime 1,366/100k
Haddonfield, NJ : home $708,800, crime 1,571/100k
Somerville, NJ : home $403,600, crime 820/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Oakland compare to other US cities?
Here's how Oakland stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income96% higher than other cities
Home value88% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety90% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to New Jersey alone, Oakland ranks #36 of 238 New Jersey cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Oakland 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 Oakland near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Oakland ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Oakland only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#101 of 659
85th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#171 of 672
75th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#470 of 680
30th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#224 of 686
67th 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
96th percentile nationally for median household income · 90th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Oakland's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Oakland'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 Oakland's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$567,20012th percentilemore affordable than 12% 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
Oakland'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
#8,906 of 15,516
More affordable than 43% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,479 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.5×, Oakland sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,906 of 15,516 and #1,479 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
$162,862Oakland, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Oakland, 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 Oakland, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)54.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
12,700
Median Income
$162,862
Median Home Value
$567,200
Median Age
41.9
Poverty Rate
1.4%
Labor force participation
65.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
54.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
370.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
30.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
339.9
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
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Oakland's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
12,697 residents
2021
12,678 residents
2022
12,662 residents
2023
12,743 residents
2024
12,838 residents
2025
12,837 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
14
housing units authorized
Single-Family
14
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
6
1
5
$1.3M
2020
3
3
0
$1.1M
2021
3
3
0
$1.5M
2022
5
5
0
$0.8M
2023
3
3
0
$1.5M
2024
14
14
0
$6.3M
Permit volume increased 133% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
71.3%
Carpool
4.7%
Public Transit
3.3%
Walk
1.3%
Work from Home
18.4%
Other
1.0%
Based on 6,746 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 Oakland. 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 Oakland 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 Oakland sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Oakland 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.