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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-STOCKTON-NJ · Stockton, NJ 421 pop · income 81st 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 Stockton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Stockton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Baxterville · lowest
45,391
Baxterville · lowest
45,391 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #1
Bolton Landing · near
105,250
Bolton Landing · near
105,250 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #2
Stockton · this city
105,263
Stockton · this city
105,263 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #3
Somerset · near
105,272
Somerset · near
105,272 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #4
Lakeland South · near
105,273
Lakeland South · near
105,273 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #5
Ellisville · near
105,276
Ellisville · near
105,276 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #6
Rio Oso · highest
172,500
Rio Oso · highest
172,500 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Stockton on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 421.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Stockton places in the 81st percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
81st
percentile, household income
79th
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Stockton, NJ
Stockton is a small town in New Jersey, home to 421 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Stockton report a median income of $105,263 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.4%. Typical homes in Stockton are valued around $414,500, and the median resident age is 54.9 years. Educational attainment runs 52.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 2 residential building permits were authorized in Stockton (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,132 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across New Jersey, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Stockton'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 housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Stockton, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Stockton 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 +2 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Stockton?
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Johnsonburg (425 residents, $113,500 income); Deerfield Street (433 residents, $92,102 income); Oldwick (446 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Thomaston, AL (421 residents); Rio Oso, CA (421 residents); Larwill, IN (421 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Stockton?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.4%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
What does the journey to work look like in Stockton?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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
52.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B+
$105,263
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.4%
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Stockton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 86/100 (A) · 52.2%
Household income: 79/100 (B+) · $105,263
Poverty rate: 69/100 (B-) · 4.4%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
How does Stockton compare to other US cities?
Here's how Stockton stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income81% higher than other cities
Home value79% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Stockton 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 Stockton near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Stockton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Stockton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#330 of 659
50th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#314 of 672
53rd percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#263 of 680
60th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#236 of 686
66th 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
81st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Stockton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$414,50021st percentilemore affordable than 21% 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
Stockton's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,509 of 15,516
More affordable than 32% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,242 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Stockton sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,509 of 15,516 and #8,242 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$105,263Stockton, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Stockton, 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 Stockton, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)52.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
421
Median Income
$105,263
Median Home Value
$414,500
Median Age
54.9
Poverty Rate
4.4%
Labor force participation
59.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
52.2%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Stockton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
495 residents
2021
500 residents
2022
494 residents
2023
495 residents
2024
494 residents
2025
497 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
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
2
2
0
$0.2M
2020
2
2
0
$0.2M
2021
2
2
0
$0.2M
2022
2
2
0
$0.6M
2023
4
4
0
$1.2M
2024
2
2
0
$0.6M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.4%
Carpool
3.1%
Public Transit
0.9%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
15.8%
Other
0.8%
Based on 228 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 Stockton. 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 Stockton 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 Stockton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Stockton 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, 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.