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-RIDGEFIELD-NJ · Ridgefield, NJ 11,439 pop · income 86th 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 Ridgefield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ridgefield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Markham · lowest
52,364
Markham · lowest
52,364 median HH income
31.0% of the leader · rank #1
Ridgefield · this city
115,676
Ridgefield · this city
115,676 median HH income
68.4% of the leader · rank #2
Satellite Bea… · near
115,684
Satellite Bea… · near
115,684 median HH income
68.4% of the leader · rank #3
E. Lopez · near
115,685
E. Lopez · near
115,685 median HH income
68.4% of the leader · rank #4
Goshen · near
115,700
Goshen · near
115,700 median HH income
68.5% of the leader · rank #5
Champlin · near
115,719
Champlin · near
115,719 median HH income
68.5% of the leader · rank #6
Westwood · highest
169,026
Westwood · highest
169,026 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 Ridgefield 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: 11,439.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ridgefield - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Ridgefield lands in the 86th percentile for household income and the 74th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
86th
percentile, household income
90th
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: Ridgefield, NJ
Ridgefield is a small town in New Jersey, home to 11,439 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Ridgefield report a median income of $115,676 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.6%. Home values in Ridgefield run a median of $609,700, and the median resident age is 40.3 years. 47.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 62.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 24 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 71% from five years earlier. Ridgefield reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 763.9 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
New Jersey carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts New Jersey at 108.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Above Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,132 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across New Jersey, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Ridgefield'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 reported crime 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 Ridgefield, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, 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
Which cities make useful reference points for Ridgefield?
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Gloucester City (11,465 residents, $70,942 income); Ringwood (11,600 residents, $142,529 income); Ocean City (11,260 residents, $101,782 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Markham, IL (11,434 residents); Lovington, NM (11,444 residents); Mack, OH (11,444 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What does the journey to work look like in Ridgefield?
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 63.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Is Ridgefield growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +97 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 24 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Ridgefield?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 763.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 67% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Ridgefield?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.6%, 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.
Household income
$115,676
Home value
$609,700
Value / income
5.3×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Ridgefield?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 47.2% 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 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.
Matched public schools
4
Bachelor's degree+
47.2%
Poverty estimate
3.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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-
$115,676
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime A-
52 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A-
47.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B
3.6%
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.
Ridgefield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 84/100 (A-) · $115,676
Violent crime: 83/100 (A-) · 52 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 47.2%
Poverty rate: 74/100 (B) · 3.6%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Ridgefield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ridgefield'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 - Ridgefield highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Ridgefield, NJ (this city): home $609,700, crime 764/100k
Ringwood, NJ : home $434,800, crime 215/100k
Ocean City, NJ : home $719,100, crime 2,178/100k
Guttenberg, NJ : home $360,700, crime 1,164/100k
Westwood, NJ : home $587,700, crime 306/100k
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 Ridgefield compare to other US cities?
Ridgefield measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income86% higher than other cities
Home value90% 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.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at New Jersey, Ridgefield ranks #90 of 238 New Jersey cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Ridgefield 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 Ridgefield near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ridgefield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ridgefield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#266 of 659
60th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#144 of 672
78th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#306 of 680
54th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#289 of 686
58th 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
86th percentile nationally for median household income · 74th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ridgefield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ridgefield'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 Ridgefield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$609,70010th percentilemore affordable than 10% 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
Ridgefield's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,278 of 15,516
More affordable than 14% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,729 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.3×, Ridgefield sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,278 of 15,516 and #2,729 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
$115,676Ridgefield, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ridgefield, 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 Ridgefield, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)47.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
11,439
Median Income
$115,676
Median Home Value
$609,700
Median Age
40.3
Poverty Rate
3.6%
Labor force participation
62.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
47.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
763.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
51.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
712.4
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
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Ridgefield's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
11,450 residents
2021
11,426 residents
2022
11,416 residents
2023
11,482 residents
2024
11,597 residents
2025
11,547 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
24
housing units authorized
Single-Family
12
detached homes
Multifamily
12
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
14
7
7
$2.7M
2020
20
13
7
$2.2M
2021
28
14
14
$3.7M
2022
32
21
11
$4.0M
2023
21
13
8
$2.8M
2024
24
12
12
$3.1M
Permit volume increased 71% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
63.9%
Carpool
13.0%
Public Transit
11.2%
Walk
0.4%
Work from Home
9.2%
Other
2.3%
Based on 5,920 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 Ridgefield. 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 Ridgefield 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 Ridgefield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ridgefield 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.