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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-SUMMIT-NJ · Summit, NJ 22,512 pop · income 98th 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 Summit
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Summit on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Greenwood · lowest
40,253
Greenwood · lowest
40,253 median HH income
20.1% of the leader · rank #1
Sterling Ranch · near
198,750
Sterling Ranch · near
198,750 median HH income
99.5% of the leader · rank #2
River Hills · near
198,750
River Hills · near
198,750 median HH income
99.5% of the leader · rank #3
Adamstown · near
198,993
Adamstown · near
198,993 median HH income
99.6% of the leader · rank #4
Greenwood · near
199,063
Greenwood · near
199,063 median HH income
99.6% of the leader · rank #5
Summit · this city
199,107
Summit · this city
199,107 median HH income
99.7% of the leader · rank #6
Moraga · highest
199,800
Moraga · highest
199,800 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 Summit 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: 22,512.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Summit - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Summit places in the 98th percentile for household income and the 73rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
98th
percentile, household income
97th
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: Summit, NJ
New Jersey's Summit is a small city, with 22,512 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Summit report a median income of $199,107 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.9%. Home values in Summit run a median of $969,900, and the median resident age is 40.6 years. 72.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 66.4% 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 (Construction Slowdown), down 29% from five years earlier. Summit reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 787.5 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: the state registers 108.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,132 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in New Jersey run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Summit'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 work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households 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 Summit, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, 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. Population change
Is Summit growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +689 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.0% 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 does the journey to work look like in Summit?
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 47.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Summit?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.9%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Summit?
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Roselle (22,455 residents, $82,967 income); North Plainfield (22,667 residents, $83,529 income); Hillsborough (22,302 residents, $142,275 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Greenwood, SC (22,527 residents); East Peoria, IL (22,485 residents); Central Falls, RI (22,481 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Summit?
The NCES join finds 9 public schools within the city match. 72.7% 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.
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
9
Bachelor's degree+
72.7%
Poverty estimate
1.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Summit?
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 787.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 65% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
730.3
Violent rate
57.2
Total reported rate
787.5
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.
Household income A+
$199,107
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
72.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate A
1.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime A-
57 /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.
Summit profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $199,107
Bachelor's+ share: 99/100 (A+) · 72.7%
Poverty rate: 86/100 (A) · 1.9%
Violent crime: 82/100 (A-) · 57 /100k
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Summit sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Summit'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 - Summit highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Summit, NJ (this city): home $969,900, crime 788/100k
Greenwood, SC : home $123,400, crime 3,808/100k
East Peoria, IL : home $160,800, crime 2,629/100k
Central Falls, RI : home $300,500, crime 1,329/100k
Biddeford, ME : home $349,300, crime 2,663/100k
Roselle, NJ : home $336,500, crime 1,311/100k
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 Summit compare to other US cities?
Summit measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income98% higher than other cities
Home value97% 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: Summit ranks #96 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 Summit 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 Summit near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Summit ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Summit only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#54 of 659
92nd percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#33 of 672
95th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#438 of 680
35th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#59 of 686
91st 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
98th percentile nationally for median household income · 73rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Summit's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Summit'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 Summit's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$969,9003rd percentilemore affordable than 3% 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
Summit's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,668 of 15,516
More affordable than 18% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,538 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.9×, Summit sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,668 of 15,516 and #2,538 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
$199,107Summit, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Summit, 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 Summit, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)72.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
22,512
Median Income
$199,107
Median Home Value
$969,900
Median Age
40.6
Poverty Rate
1.9%
Labor force participation
66.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
72.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
787.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
57.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
730.3
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
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Summit's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
22,625 residents
2021
22,564 residents
2022
22,497 residents
2023
22,862 residents
2024
23,271 residents
2025
23,314 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
24
housing units authorized
Single-Family
13
detached homes
Multifamily
11
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
34
12
22
$9.3M
2020
45
17
28
$14.7M
2021
35
23
12
$16.3M
2022
43
22
21
$15.8M
2023
25
17
8
$15.3M
2024
24
13
11
$11.2M
Permit volume decreased 29% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
47.1%
Carpool
3.8%
Public Transit
18.5%
Walk
5.6%
Work from Home
20.0%
Other
5.0%
Based on 11,214 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 Summit. 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 Summit 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 Summit sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Summit 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.