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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-SECAUCUS-NJ · Secaucus, NJ 21,437 pop · income 91st 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 Secaucus
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Secaucus on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Mount Pleasant · lowest
39,924
Mount Pleasant · lowest
39,924 median HH income
28.1% of the leader · rank #1
San Clemente · near
134,735
San Clemente · near
134,735 median HH income
94.7% of the leader · rank #2
Larkspur · near
134,744
Larkspur · near
134,744 median HH income
94.7% of the leader · rank #3
Secaucus · this city
134,746
Secaucus · this city
134,746 median HH income
94.7% of the leader · rank #4
Higganum · near
134,750
Higganum · near
134,750 median HH income
94.7% of the leader · rank #5
Simonton · near
134,750
Simonton · near
134,750 median HH income
94.7% of the leader · rank #6
Hillsborough · highest
142,275
Hillsborough · highest
142,275 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 Secaucus 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: 21,437.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Secaucus - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Secaucus places in the 91st percentile for household income and the 9th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
91st
percentile, household income
87th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
9th
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: Secaucus, NJ
New Jersey's Secaucus is a small city, with 21,437 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Secaucus brings in $134,746 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.6%. Home values in Secaucus run a median of $557,800, and the median resident age is 38.6 years. About 62.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 63.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 10 residential building permits were authorized in Secaucus (Construction Slowdown), down 55% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Secaucus's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3787.7 crimes per 100,000 residents, above 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: the state registers 108.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,132 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in New Jersey run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Secaucus report an average commute of 24.8 minutes, with 49.8% driving alone and 23.0% working from home. 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 Secaucus'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 schools and households to population change 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 Secaucus, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history.
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 Secaucus?
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 2.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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 2 public schools within the city match. 62.7% 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.
Is Secaucus growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +670 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 10 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 Secaucus?
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 Lindenwold (21,534 residents, $55,099 income); Elmwood Park (21,287 residents, $100,852 income); Parsippany (21,869 residents, $102,152 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Five Corners, WA (21,444 residents); Helena, AL (21,452 residents); Mount Pleasant, MI (21,420 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 Secaucus?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 49.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.8 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.
Drive alone
49.8%
Work from home
23.0%
Public transit
17.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 11,005 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Secaucus?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3787.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 66% higher 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
3787.7
Violent rate
151.5
Property rate
3636.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
62.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A+
$134,746
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A-
2.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C
152 /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.
Secaucus profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 93/100 (A+) · 62.7%
Household income: 92/100 (A+) · $134,746
Poverty rate: 81/100 (A-) · 2.6%
Violent crime: 58/100 (C) · 152 /100k
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Secaucus sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Secaucus'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 - Secaucus highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Secaucus, NJ (this city): home $557,800, crime 3,788/100k
Helena, AL : home $292,700, crime 507/100k
Mount Pleasant, MI : home $168,700, crime 1,453/100k
Mountlake Terrace, WA : home $606,100, crime 2,385/100k
Ashland, KY : home $125,300, crime 2,703/100k
New Hope, MN : home $314,600, crime 2,131/100k
Lindenwold, NJ : home $168,300, crime 2,515/100k
Elmwood Park, NJ : home $456,000, crime 2,468/100k
Pleasantville, NJ : home $177,700, crime 1,877/100k
Roselle, NJ : home $336,500, crime 1,311/100k
How does Secaucus compare to other US cities?
Here's how Secaucus stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income91% higher than other cities
Home value87% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety9% 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, Secaucus ranks #225 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 Secaucus 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 Secaucus near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Secaucus ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Secaucus only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#172 of 659
74th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#179 of 672
73rd percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#374 of 680
44th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#138 of 686
80th 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
91st percentile nationally for median household income · 9th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Secaucus's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Secaucus'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 Secaucus's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$557,80013th percentilemore affordable than 13% 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
Secaucus'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
#11,082 of 15,516
More affordable than 29% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,095 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.1×, Secaucus sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,082 of 15,516 and #2,095 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
$134,746Secaucus, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Secaucus, 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 Secaucus, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)62.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
21,437
Median Income
$134,746
Median Home Value
$557,800
Median Age
38.6
Poverty Rate
2.6%
Labor force participation
63.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
62.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3787.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
151.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3636.2
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
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Secaucus's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
21,970 residents
2021
21,182 residents
2022
21,237 residents
2023
21,434 residents
2024
22,557 residents
2025
22,640 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
10
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
6
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
22
1
21
$2.6M
2020
643
6
637
$99.2M
2021
5
3
2
$1.4M
2022
7
1
6
$1.8M
2023
10
2
8
$2.9M
2024
10
4
6
$2.9M
Permit volume decreased 55% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.8 minutes
Drive Alone
49.8%
Carpool
7.2%
Public Transit
17.0%
Walk
2.4%
Work from Home
23.0%
Other
0.6%
Based on 11,005 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 Secaucus. 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 Secaucus 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 Secaucus sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Secaucus 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.