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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-RIVER-EDGE-NJ · River Edge, NJ 12,024 pop · income 95th 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 River Edge
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest River Edge on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Portales · lowest
51,290
Portales · lowest
51,290 median HH income
23.1% of the leader · rank #1
Islip Terrace · near
155,741
Islip Terrace · near
155,741 median HH income
70.2% of the leader · rank #2
Turnerville · near
155,793
Turnerville · near
155,793 median HH income
70.2% of the leader · rank #3
River Edge · this city
155,827
River Edge · this city
155,827 median HH income
70.3% of the leader · rank #4
Highlands Ran… · near
155,847
Highlands Ran… · near
155,847 median HH income
70.3% of the leader · rank #5
Celina · near
155,875
Celina · near
155,875 median HH income
70.3% of the leader · rank #6
Wakefield · highest
221,793
Wakefield · highest
221,793 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 River Edge 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: 12,024.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
River Edge - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, River Edge lands in the 95th percentile for household income and the 73rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
95th
percentile, household income
91st
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
73rd
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: River Edge, NJ
New Jersey's River Edge is a small town, with 12,024 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in River Edge report a median income of $155,827 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.1%. Typical homes in River Edge are valued around $637,500, and the median resident age is 42.2 years. Educational attainment runs 70.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 66.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 65 residential building permits were authorized in River Edge (Slowing), down 16% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. River Edge reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 784.6 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: 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts New Jersey's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). 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 River Edge'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 work and mobility to reported crime to housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For River Edge, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, 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.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in River Edge?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 59.4%. 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in River Edge?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 784.6 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.
How far does income reach against housing in River Edge?
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 4.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for River Edge?
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 Bound Brook (12,023 residents, $80,876 income); Martinsville (12,016 residents, $206,839 income); Hasbrouck Heights (12,067 residents, $118,670 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Wakefield, VA (12,024 residents); Portales, NM (12,023 residents); Honeygo, MD (12,022 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.
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.
Population change
Is River Edge growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +102 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 65 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
2020 estimate
12,057
2025 estimate
12,159
Period change
+0.8%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for River Edge?
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. 70.8% 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
2.1%
Bachelor's degree+
70.8%
Matched public schools
1
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+
$155,827
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
70.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime A+
16 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate A
2.1%
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.
River Edge profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 98/100 (A+) · $155,827
Bachelor's+ share: 98/100 (A+) · 70.8%
Violent crime: 93/100 (A+) · 16 /100k
Poverty rate: 85/100 (A) · 2.1%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where River Edge sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
River Edge'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 - River Edge highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
River Edge, NJ (this city): home $637,500, crime 785/100k
Portales, NM : home $132,900, crime 3,653/100k
Ocean Pines, MD : home $352,600, crime 360/100k
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ : home $508,500, crime 497/100k
Glen Rock, NJ : home $817,300, crime 633/100k
Wallington, NJ : home $493,700, crime 1,598/100k
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 River Edge compare to other US cities?
Here's how River Edge stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income95% higher than other cities
Home value91% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety73% 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: River Edge ranks #95 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 River Edge 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 River Edge near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, River Edge ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares River Edge only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#116 of 659
82nd percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#128 of 672
81st percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#415 of 680
38th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#76 of 686
89th 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
95th percentile nationally for median household income · 73rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
River Edge's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
River Edge'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 River Edge's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$637,5009th percentilemore affordable than 9% 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
River Edge's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,951 of 15,516
More affordable than 29% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,061 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.1×, River Edge sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,951 of 15,516 and #2,061 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
$155,827River Edge, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context River Edge, 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 River Edge, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)70.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
12,024
Median Income
$155,827
Median Home Value
$637,500
Median Age
42.2
Poverty Rate
2.1%
Labor force participation
66.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
70.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
784.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
16.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
768.2
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
River Edge's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
12,057 residents
2021
12,028 residents
2022
12,018 residents
2023
12,076 residents
2024
12,171 residents
2025
12,159 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
65
housing units authorized
Single-Family
14
detached homes
Multifamily
51
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
77
13
64
$12.8M
2020
68
13
55
$11.5M
2021
84
13
71
$14.0M
2022
73
12
61
$12.5M
2023
62
12
50
$10.7M
2024
65
14
51
$11.7M
Permit volume decreased 16% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
59.4%
Carpool
7.8%
Public Transit
10.5%
Walk
0.4%
Work from Home
20.1%
Other
1.8%
Based on 6,333 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 River Edge. 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 River Edge 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 River Edge sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How River Edge 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.