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Place dossier plate
SheetNJ-WHARTON-NJ · Wharton, NJ 7,254 pop · income 73rd 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 Wharton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wharton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Monticello · lowest
47,464
Monticello · lowest
47,464 median HH income
19.0% of the leader · rank #1
Sierra · near
92,543
Sierra · near
92,543 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #2
Wharton · this city
92,548
Wharton · this city
92,548 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #3
Ora · near
92,550
Ora · near
92,550 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #4
Richland · near
92,550
Richland · near
92,550 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #5
Morro Bay · near
92,553
Morro Bay · near
92,553 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #6
Rumson · highest
250,001
Rumson · highest
250,001 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 Wharton 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: 7,254.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Wharton - the verdict
Nationally, Wharton sits in the 73rd percentile for household income and the 71st percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
73rd
percentile, household income
72nd
percentile, home value
94th
percentile, median rent
71st
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: Wharton, NJ
7,254 people live in Wharton, New Jersey - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Wharton brings in $92,548 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 17.5%. Home values in Wharton run a median of $348,100, and the median resident age is 39.4 years. About 29.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 68.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 83 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Active). Wharton reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 835.7 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
New Jersey carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts New Jersey at 108.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Above Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,132 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across New Jersey, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Wharton'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 work and mobility to population change to reported crime to schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wharton, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count.
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. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Wharton?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 +370 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 83 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Wharton?
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 835.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 63% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Wharton?
Within New Jersey, the closest population matches are Emerson (7,263 residents, $153,963 income); Rumson (7,265 residents, $250,000+ income); Yorketown (7,265 residents, $163,375 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Marble Falls, TX (7,255 residents); Monticello, NY (7,252 residents); Clewiston, FL (7,257 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 Wharton?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 29.3% 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 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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
29.3%
Poverty estimate
17.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Wharton?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.5%, 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.
Household income
$92,548
Home value
$348,100
Value / income
3.8×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 17.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
108.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New Jersey average
D
City profile score · Wharton, NJ
49/100
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.
Violent crime A-
53 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income B
$92,548
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C
29.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.5%
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.
Wharton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 83/100 (A-) · 53 /100k
Household income: 72/100 (B) · $92,548
Bachelor's+ share: 57/100 (C) · 29.3%
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.5%
Cost of living: 10/100 (F) · 108.8 index
Where Wharton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Wharton'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 - Wharton highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Wharton, NJ (this city): home $348,100, crime 836/100k
Marble Falls, TX : home $294,900, crime 2,208/100k
Clewiston, FL : home $210,000, crime 513/100k
Richland, MS : home $131,300, crime 1,082/100k
Emerson, NJ : home $626,000, crime 95/100k
Rumson, NJ : home $1,609,400, crime 393/100k
Washington, NJ : home $260,200, crime 734/100k
Keyport, NJ : home $374,800, crime 1,782/100k
Palmyra, NJ : home $216,600, crime 2,065/100k
How does Wharton compare to other US cities?
Here's how Wharton stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income73% higher than other cities
Home value72% pricier than other cities
Median rent94% pricier than other cities
Safety71% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at New Jersey, Wharton ranks #100 of 238 New Jersey cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Wharton 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 Wharton near the bottom of New Jersey's cities
Among the 686 New Jersey cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wharton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wharton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#428 of 659
35th percentile in New Jersey
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 686
0th percentile in New Jersey
Median Home Value
#415 of 672
38th percentile in New Jersey
Poverty Rate
#38 of 680
94th percentile in New Jersey
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#490 of 686
29th 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
73rd percentile nationally for median household income · 71st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Wharton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Wharton'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 Wharton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$348,10028th percentilemore affordable than 28% 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
Wharton's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,925 of 15,516
More affordable than 36% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,862 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.8×, Wharton sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,925 of 15,516 and #7,862 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
$92,548Wharton, NJ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wharton, 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 Wharton, NJ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)68.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,254
Median Income
$92,548
Median Home Value
$348,100
Median Age
39.4
Poverty Rate
17.5%
Labor force participation
68.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
835.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
53.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
782.6
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
Wharton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,248 residents
2021
7,254 residents
2022
7,248 residents
2023
7,391 residents
2024
7,425 residents
2025
7,618 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Active
Total Permits (2024)
83
housing units authorized
Single-Family
72
detached homes
Multifamily
11
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
11.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
66
0
66
$5.3M
2022
6
0
6
$0.7M
2023
134
6
128
$22.6M
2024
83
72
11
$26.1M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.4%
Carpool
12.8%
Public Transit
1.6%
Walk
1.6%
Work from Home
8.1%
Other
1.5%
Based on 3,909 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 Wharton. 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 Wharton 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 Wharton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wharton 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.