Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Clifton (7.1%) is higher than in 83% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income B+: better than 70% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #312 of 468 in New Jersey.
Walkability A+: more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns · #60 of 468 in New Jersey.
Household incomes here are higher than in 76% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 28 minutes each way (New Jersey 31, U.S. 26). About one in ten work in Clifton; the top destination outside it is New York City (10%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Clifton, in brief
Clifton trades workers with the towns around it
Clifton has about as many jobs (33,203) as working residents (39,029), but they are mostly different people: 35,217 residents leave for work each day while 29,391 people come in. Only 11% of the jobs in Clifton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Clifton draws workers from far and wide
The 33,203 jobs in Clifton are filled from a wide area. Clifton’s own residents hold 11% and the ten next-biggest home towns 26%; the other 63% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
What’s behind Clifton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Clifton is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #312 of 468 in New Jersey. Job access by car holds Clifton’s grade up (among the top U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clifton could be anywhere from B to A−.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 35,217 residents head out to work, 3,812 work right here, and 29,391 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.85 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
10% of working residents work in New York City
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Clifton clocks in
10% of workers
6% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 33,203 jobs in Clifton are
33,203 jobs are based in Clifton. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Clifton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clifton, 2013 → 2023: 30,163 → 33,203. 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.
About 28 minutes each way, quicker than most of New Jersey
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clifton workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 39,556 commuters (the 12% 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.
Half of Clifton commutes less than 8 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Clifton is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clifton is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns, #60 of 468 in New Jersey. Both inputs place Clifton near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 45,203 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 58% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 12.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 95% 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). 10.0% of Clifton households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 10% of Clifton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Clifton is 210th of 491 U.S. towns of 64,000 to 123,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Clifton, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Franklin Township NJ | 69,105 | $125K | 5.9% | 5.1% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Edison Township NJ | 109,077 | $125K | 4.7% | 6.2% | 15% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Middletown Township NJ | 67,135 | $142K | 4.2% | 5.8% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 208 | Glen Burnie MD | 72,590 | $88K | 9.3% | 4.7% | 9% | B+ |
| 209 | Thousand Oaks CA | 122,230 | $136K | 8.9% | 5.4% | 26% | B+ |
| 210 | Clifton NJ | 91,127 | $98K | 7.9% | 7.1% | 10% | B+ |
| 211 | Camarillo CA | 68,652 | $113K | 8.5% | 5.5% | 17% | B+ |
| 212 | Redlands CA | 74,128 | $105K | 9.1% | 5.5% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 491 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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.
10% of Clifton works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Paterson (6%). Darker towns draw more of Clifton’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Clifton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clifton | – | B+ | A+ | 28 min | $98,237 |
| Woodland Park | under 2% | A− | A | 23 min | $98,845 |
| Garfield | under 2% | B− | A+ | 28 min | $79,700 |
| Montclair State University | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Passaic | 4% | C | A+ | 25 min | $55,371 |
| Little Falls Township | under 2% | A | A+ | 26 min | $123,307 |
| Montclair Township | under 2% | A | A+ | 36 min | $151,075 |
| Paterson | 6% | C | A+ | 23 min | $55,997 |
| Nutley Township | under 2% | A− | A+ | 31 min | $119,734 |
| Rutherford | under 2% | A | A+ | 34 min | $143,153 |
| Upper Montclair | under 2% | — | — | 42 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Montclair State University and Upper Montclair: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Clifton: questions
What is the median household income in Clifton?
$98,237 (±$4,859) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clifton?
7.9%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clifton?
28 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clifton work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (10%, 18 mi), Paterson (6%, 4 mi), Passaic (4%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clifton walkable?
Clifton is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.8 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clifton without a car?
10% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 58% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clifton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clifton
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.