Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-WEST-BELMAR-NJ · West Belmar, NJ 2,682 pop · income 84th 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 West Belmar
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest West Belmar on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Arcadia · lowest
35,303
Arcadia · lowest
35,303 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #1
Wekiwa Springs · near
113,067
Wekiwa Springs · near
113,067 median HH income
76.3% of the leader · rank #2
West Belmar · this city
113,083
West Belmar · this city
113,083 median HH income
76.4% of the leader · rank #3
Urbandale · near
113,086
Urbandale · near
113,086 median HH income
76.4% of the leader · rank #4
Berkley · near
113,103
Berkley · near
113,103 median HH income
76.4% of the leader · rank #5
Torrance · near
113,105
Torrance · near
113,105 median HH income
76.4% of the leader · rank #6
Seaville · highest
148,095
Seaville · highest
148,095 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 West Belmar 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: 2,682.
West Belmar ranks in the 84th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
84th
percentile, household income
84th
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: West Belmar, NJ
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,682 residents in West Belmar, a small town within New Jersey. Median household income here is $113,083 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in West Belmar are valued around $490,000, and the median resident age is 44.1 years. Educational attainment runs 43.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 66.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 90.8 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of West Belmar'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For West Belmar, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in West Belmar?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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 West Belmar?
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Plainsboro Center (2,683 residents, $117,363 income); Seaville (2,678 residents, $148,095 income); Palermo (2,667 residents, $98,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Arcadia, LA (2,682 residents); Montpelier, ID (2,681 residents); Colwyn, PA (2,683 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.
What does the journey to work look like in West Belmar?
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 74.7%. 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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income A-
$113,083
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B+
43.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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).
West Belmar profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 83/100 (A-) · $113,083
Bachelor's+ share: 78/100 (B+) · 43.8%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
How does West Belmar compare to other US cities?
Where West Belmar sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income84% higher than other cities
Home value84% 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 West Belmar 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 West Belmar near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, West Belmar ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares West Belmar only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#281 of 659
57th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#225 of 672
67th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#540 of 680
0th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#329 of 686
52nd 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
84th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How West Belmar's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$490,00016th percentilemore affordable than 16% 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
West Belmar's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,613 of 15,516
More affordable than 25% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,943 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.3×, West Belmar sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,613 of 15,516 and #8,943 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
$113,083West Belmar, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context West Belmar, 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 West Belmar, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)43.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,682
Median Income
$113,083
Median Home Value
$490,000
Median Age
44.1
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
66.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
43.8%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.7%
Carpool
2.8%
Public Transit
1.3%
Walk
0.5%
Work from Home
20.0%
Other
0.7%
Based on 1,488 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 West Belmar. 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 West Belmar 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 West Belmar sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How West Belmar 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.