Photo: Ww2censor · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Alpine earn more than in almost any other U.S. town
The two grades for Alpine are A+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Alpine is among the highest-earning towns in the country. Poverty touches 6.2% of residents; New Jersey has 9.7%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Alpine apart
Alpine and New York City trade workers both ways
New York City is the top workplace for Alpine residents (36%) and also where the most people who work in Alpine come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A lot of Alpine workers cross into New York
29% of Alpine workers work outside New Jersey, most of them in New York, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 824 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Alpine gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Alpine is among the top U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($246,944, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns. It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (6.4%) is left out: Alpine’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Alpine could be anywhere from A to A+.
36% of working residents work in New York City
Where Alpine clocks in
36% of workers
3% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The workday shuffle in and out of Alpine
On a workday 812 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 392 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Alpine on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
0.49 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Alpine
404 jobs are based in Alpine.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alpine, 2013 → 2023: 403 → 404. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Alpine’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Alpine takes about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alpine workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 596 commuters (the 17% who work from home are left out). Across New Jersey: 75% drive alone, 10% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Alpine’s workers travel
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
For most of Alpine, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alpine is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 13.2% across New Jersey, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 718 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). <1% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.9% of Alpine households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Alpine’s commuters take a bus or train.
51st of 6,085: where Alpine ranks among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Bayou Gauche LA | 1,908 | $163K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 50 | Adamstown MD | 2,025 | $196K | 0.9% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| 51 | Alpine NJ | 1,759 | $247K | 6.2% | 6.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 52 | Pittsford NY | 1,323 | $119K | 1.9% | 3.0% | 3% | A+ |
| 53 | Krugerville TX | 2,021 | $118K | 1.9% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Sea Girt NJ | 1,874 | $214K | 3.3% | 4.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Oldmans Township NJ | 1,954 | $113K | 3.2% | 11.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Hopewell NJ | 1,944 | $145K | 3.9% | 2.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Alpine, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
Work in the towns next to Alpine
The biggest share goes to Tenafly (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alpine workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine | – | A+ | B+ | 32 min | $246,944 |
| Demarest | under 2% | A | A− | 43 min | $208,036 |
| Cresskill | under 2% | A | A+ | 37 min | $170,376 |
| Closter | under 2% | A | A | 33 min | $190,469 |
| Tenafly | 2% | A | A+ | 40 min | $208,200 |
| Norwood | under 2% | A+ | A− | 31 min | $178,311 |
| Rockleigh | under 2% | — | — | 34 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Rockleigh: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alpine’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Alpine: questions
What is the median household income in Alpine?
$246,944 (±$77,017) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alpine?
6.2%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alpine?
32 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alpine work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (36%, 21 mi), Englewood (3%, 6 mi), Englewood Cliffs (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alpine walkable?
Alpine is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alpine without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alpine, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alpine
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.