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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-PRINCETON-NJ · Princeton, NJ 30,451 pop · income 97th 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 Princeton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Princeton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Redan · lowest
63,226
Redan · lowest
63,226 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #1
Port Washingt… · near
183,964
Port Washingt… · near
183,964 median HH income
86.5% of the leader · rank #2
Princeton · this city
184,113
Princeton · this city
184,113 median HH income
86.6% of the leader · rank #3
Hedwig · near
184,141
Hedwig · near
184,141 median HH income
86.6% of the leader · rank #4
Ladera Ranch · near
184,257
Ladera Ranch · near
184,257 median HH income
86.6% of the leader · rank #5
Ivy · near
184,425
Ivy · near
184,425 median HH income
86.7% of the leader · rank #6
Westfield · highest
212,700
Westfield · highest
212,700 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 Princeton 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: 30,451.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Princeton - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Princeton places in the 97th percentile for household income and the 74th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
97th
percentile, household income
97th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
74th
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: Princeton, NJ
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 30,451 residents in Princeton, a small city within New Jersey. Princeton households earn a median of $184,113 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.5%. Home values in Princeton run a median of $1,040,400, and the median resident age is 27.5 years. Educational attainment runs 84.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 22 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Low Activity). Princeton reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 765.3 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). The average commute for Princeton workers runs 16.5 minutes, with 33.3% driving alone and 31.7% working from home. 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 Princeton'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 population change to comparison shortlist to reported crime to work and mobility to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Princeton, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
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.
Question 1
Is Princeton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +844 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 22 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Princeton?
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 Westfield (30,760 residents, $212,700 income); Rahway (29,748 residents, $90,852 income); Englewood (29,342 residents, $101,398 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Liberty, MO (30,446 residents); Ferry Pass, FL (30,467 residents); Lafayette, CO (30,471 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 can the FBI record say about safety in Princeton?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 765.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 66% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Princeton?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 33.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.5 minutes.
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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Princeton?
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 7 public schools within the city match. 84.6% 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
4.5%
Bachelor's degree+
84.6%
Matched public schools
7
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Princeton?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.7×
Home value
$1,040,400
Household income
$184,113
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Top-decile income · poverty 4.5% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
108.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New Jersey average
B
City profile score · Princeton, NJ
73/100
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+
$184,113
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
84.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime A-
49 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate B-
4.5%
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.
Princeton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $184,113
Bachelor's+ share: 100/100 (A+) · 84.6%
Violent crime: 84/100 (A-) · 49 /100k
Poverty rate: 69/100 (B-) · 4.5%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Princeton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Princeton'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 - Princeton highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Princeton, NJ (this city): home $1,040,400, crime 765/100k
Liberty, MO : home $267,900, crime 1,775/100k
Lafayette, CO : home $647,600, crime 2,953/100k
Morrisville, NC : home $481,800, crime 2,533/100k
Westfield, NJ : home $930,500, crime 572/100k
Rahway, NJ : home $362,300, crime 990/100k
Englewood, NJ : home $497,500, crime 1,309/100k
Long Branch, NJ : home $519,000, crime 1,869/100k
Garfield, NJ : home $454,300, crime 1,950/100k
Bergenfield, NJ : home $469,200, crime 281/100k
How does Princeton compare to other US cities?
Princeton measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income97% higher than other cities
Home value97% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety74% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just New Jersey and the picture shifts: Princeton ranks #91 of 238 New Jersey cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Princeton 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 Princeton near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Princeton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Princeton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#61 of 659
91st percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#27 of 672
96th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#257 of 680
61st percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#11 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
97th percentile nationally for median household income · 74th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Princeton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Princeton'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 Princeton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$1,040,4003rd percentilemore affordable than 3% 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
Princeton's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,766 of 15,516
More affordable than 11% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,868 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.7×, Princeton sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,766 of 15,516 and #2,868 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$184,113Princeton, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Princeton, 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 Princeton, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)84.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
30,451
Median Income
$184,113
Median Home Value
$1,040,400
Median Age
27.5
Poverty Rate
4.5%
Labor force participation
58.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
84.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
765.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
48.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
716.6
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
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Princeton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
30,625 residents
2021
30,583 residents
2022
30,438 residents
2023
30,629 residents
2024
31,446 residents
2025
31,469 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
22
housing units authorized
Single-Family
22
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
16
16
0
$4.0M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
22
22
0
$7.5M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.5 minutes
Drive Alone
33.3%
Carpool
2.2%
Public Transit
6.7%
Walk
20.0%
Work from Home
31.7%
Other
6.1%
Based on 14,223 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 Princeton. 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 Princeton 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 Princeton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Princeton 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.