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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-PINE-BEACH-NJ · Pine Beach, NJ 2,378 pop · income 88th 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 Pine Beach
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Pine Beach on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bridgeport · lowest
31,723
Bridgeport · lowest
31,723 median HH income
12.7% of the leader · rank #1
Penryn · near
121,302
Penryn · near
121,302 median HH income
48.5% of the leader · rank #2
Pine Beach · this city
121,333
Pine Beach · this city
121,333 median HH income
48.5% of the leader · rank #3
Gilbert · near
121,351
Gilbert · near
121,351 median HH income
48.5% of the leader · rank #4
Mount Pleasant · near
121,364
Mount Pleasant · near
121,364 median HH income
48.5% of the leader · rank #5
Vail · near
121,385
Vail · near
121,385 median HH income
48.6% of the leader · rank #6
Essex Fells · highest
250,001
Essex Fells · highest
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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Pine Beach 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: 2,378.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Pine Beach - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Pine Beach lands in the 88th percentile for household income and the 95th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
88th
percentile, household income
80th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
95th
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: Pine Beach, NJ
2,378 people live in Pine Beach, New Jersey - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Pine Beach brings in $121,333 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.0%. Home values in Pine Beach run a median of $438,300, and the median resident age is 53.6 years. 51.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 65.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1 residential building permits were authorized in Pine Beach (Construction Slowdown), down 75% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Pine Beach reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 220.8 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not 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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,132 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in New Jersey run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Pine Beach'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to reported crime to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Pine Beach, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, 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. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Pine Beach?
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 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Pine Beach?
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 Manahawkin (2,359 residents, $79,417 income); Leonardo (2,342 residents, $122,216 income); Gibbsboro (2,337 residents, $99,881 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Holyoke, CO (2,378 residents); Lake Lotawana, MO (2,378 residents); Sparta, MO (2,378 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.
Is Pine Beach growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +82 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 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 does the education layer cover for Pine Beach?
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. 51.0% 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.
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 Pine Beach?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 220.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 90% 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
220.8
Violent rate
132.5
Property rate
88.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Pine Beach?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.5%. 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. 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.
Drive alone
82.5%
Work from home
10.9%
Public transit
0.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,322 workers age 16+.
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
$121,333
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A
51.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B+
3.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C+
133 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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.
Pine Beach profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 86/100 (A) · $121,333
Bachelor's+ share: 85/100 (A) · 51.0%
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 3.0%
Violent crime: 63/100 (C+) · 133 /100k
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Pine Beach sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Pine Beach'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 - Pine Beach highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Pine Beach, NJ (this city): home $438,300, crime 221/100k
Holyoke, CO : home $260,000, crime 176/100k
Lake Lotawana, MO : home $550,000, crime 889/100k
Sparta, MO : home $167,400, crime 660/100k
Carlton, OR : home $400,600, crime 809/100k
Bridgeport, AL : home $86,400, crime 1,371/100k
Gibbsboro, NJ : home $278,200, crime 1,487/100k
Essex Fells, NJ : home $976,300, crime 1,296/100k
Helmetta, NJ : home $321,400, crime 362/100k
How does Pine Beach compare to other US cities?
Where Pine Beach sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income88% higher than other cities
Home value80% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety95% 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, Pine Beach ranks #14 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 Pine Beach 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 Pine Beach near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Pine Beach ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Pine Beach only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#233 of 659
65th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#282 of 672
58th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#347 of 680
48th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#251 of 686
63rd 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
88th percentile nationally for median household income · 95th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Pine Beach's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Pine Beach'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 Pine Beach's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$438,30020th percentilemore affordable than 20% 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
Pine Beach's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,401 of 15,516
More affordable than 39% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,535 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Pine Beach sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,401 of 15,516 and #7,535 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
$121,333Pine Beach, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Pine Beach, 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 Pine Beach, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)51.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,378
Median Income
$121,333
Median Home Value
$438,300
Median Age
53.6
Poverty Rate
3.0%
Labor force participation
65.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
51.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
220.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
132.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
88.3
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
Pine Beach's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,151 residents
2021
2,181 residents
2022
2,198 residents
2023
2,209 residents
2024
2,222 residents
2025
2,233 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$0.6M
2020
1
1
0
$0.1M
2021
2
2
0
$0.7M
2022
4
4
0
$0.6M
2023
1
1
0
$0.3M
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 75% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.5%
Carpool
5.3%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
0.8%
Work from Home
10.9%
Based on 1,322 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 Pine Beach. 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 Pine Beach 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 Pine Beach sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Pine Beach 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.