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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-ROSELLE-NJ · Roselle, NJ 22,455 pop · income 65th 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 Roselle
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Roselle on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Central Falls · lowest
45,921
Central Falls · lowest
45,921 median HH income
23.1% of the leader · rank #1
Liberty Center · near
82,966
Liberty Center · near
82,966 median HH income
41.7% of the leader · rank #2
Roselle · this city
82,967
Roselle · this city
82,967 median HH income
41.7% of the leader · rank #3
Fairmount · near
82,968
Fairmount · near
82,968 median HH income
41.7% of the leader · rank #4
Dunkerton · near
82,969
Dunkerton · near
82,969 median HH income
41.7% of the leader · rank #5
Homestead · near
82,969
Homestead · near
82,969 median HH income
41.7% of the leader · rank #6
Summit · highest
199,107
Summit · highest
199,107 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 Roselle 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: 22,455.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Roselle - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Roselle lands in the 65th percentile for household income and the 52nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
65th
percentile, household income
70th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
52nd
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: Roselle, NJ
22,455 people live in Roselle, New Jersey - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Roselle households earn a median of $82,967 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.3%. Roselle's housing stock carries a median value of $336,500, and the median resident age is 39.8 years. Educational attainment runs 26.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 65.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 107 residential building permits were authorized in Roselle (Building Boom), up 189% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Roselle reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1310.5 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. 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 Roselle'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 schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility to reported crime to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Roselle, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, 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
Is Roselle growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +655 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 107 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.
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. 26.1% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Roselle?
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 6.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Roselle?
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 Summit (22,512 residents, $199,107 income); Hillsborough (22,302 residents, $142,275 income); North Plainfield (22,667 residents, $83,529 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Villa Park, IL (22,456 residents); McNair, VA (22,451 residents); Chalmette, LA (22,447 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Roselle?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.1%. 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
67.1%
Work from home
8.3%
Public transit
12.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 11,700 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Roselle?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1310.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 43% 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
1310.5
Violent rate
193.5
Property rate
1117.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above median income · poverty 6.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
108.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New Jersey average
D
City profile score · Roselle, NJ
46/100
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 C+
$82,967
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C
6.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime D
194 /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.
Roselle profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 62/100 (C+) · $82,967
Poverty rate: 57/100 (C) · 6.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 26.1%
Violent crime: 49/100 (D) · 194 /100k
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Roselle sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Roselle'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 - Roselle highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Roselle, NJ (this city): home $336,500, crime 1,311/100k
Villa Park, IL : home $313,100, crime 1,748/100k
Biddeford, ME : home $349,300, crime 2,663/100k
Junction City, KS : home $162,500, crime 3,083/100k
Central Falls, RI : home $300,500, crime 1,329/100k
Summit, NJ : home $969,900, crime 788/100k
North Plainfield, NJ : home $350,700, crime 1,612/100k
Glassboro, NJ : home $276,900, crime 1,230/100k
Lindenwold, NJ : home $168,300, crime 2,515/100k
How does Roselle compare to other US cities?
Where Roselle sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income65% higher than other cities
Home value70% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety52% 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, Roselle ranks #149 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 Roselle 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 Roselle near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Roselle ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Roselle only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#494 of 659
25th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#438 of 672
35th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#185 of 680
72nd percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#523 of 686
23rd 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
65th percentile nationally for median household income · 52nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Roselle's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Roselle'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 Roselle's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$336,50030th percentilemore affordable than 30% 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
Roselle'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
#10,858 of 15,516
More affordable than 30% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,033 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.1×, Roselle sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,858 of 15,516 and #2,033 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
$82,967Roselle, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Roselle, 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 Roselle, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
22,455
Median Income
$82,967
Median Home Value
$336,500
Median Age
39.8
Poverty Rate
6.3%
Labor force participation
65.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1310.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
193.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1117.0
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
Roselle's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
22,606 residents
2021
22,481 residents
2022
22,499 residents
2023
22,871 residents
2024
23,246 residents
2025
23,261 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
107
housing units authorized
Single-Family
11
detached homes
Multifamily
96
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
37
2
35
$3.3M
2020
101
5
96
$10.2M
2021
244
3
241
$15.1M
2022
167
2
165
$11.4M
2023
92
10
82
$7.1M
2024
107
11
96
$8.3M
Permit volume increased 189% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
67.1%
Carpool
6.1%
Public Transit
12.2%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
8.3%
Other
4.8%
Based on 11,700 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 Roselle. 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 Roselle 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 Roselle sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Roselle 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.