FordsNJ
A town of 12,771, settled in 1890.
Is Fords a good place to live?
We don’t grade Fords yet; the figures below are still real.
Fords has shrunk 15% from 2010 to 2020
15,187 counted in 2010 and 12,941 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Madison Square Garden and 538 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fords. Close and well known come first.
Big draw22 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw25 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw18 mi BeachConey Island
Big draw23 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw20 mi MuseumNational September 11 Memorial & MuseumPhoto credits
Madison Square Garden: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Central Park: Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · MetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Coney Island: OptimumPx, Public domain · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · National September 11 Memorial & Museum: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0
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Moving to Fords: who provides what
Fords is unincorporated, so Middlesex County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Fords.
Fords has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Only 4 of the 469 New Jersey towns we compare have a lower share of working residents who work in town than Fords. The town had 1,599 jobs in 2023, up 234 from 2013. The middle household income for Fords comes to $116,000. The top destinations are Woodbridge Township (13%), Edison Township (9%) and New York (8%).
| Fords | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $116,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.6% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Work from home | 13% | 16% | 11% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Fords has four seasons and pleasant summers
July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 25° and about 29 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
How healthy Fords is
The share of adults in Fords who smoke cigarettes: 10%. Fords: 14% of adults have been diagnosed with depression, below both New Jersey’s towns (16%) and U.S. towns (23%). 39% of adults in Fords sleep under 7 hours; 34% feel lonely.
| Fords | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 36% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 32% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 15% | 17% |
| What stands out | Fords | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.2% | 9.6% |
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 2.7% | 3.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Moderate risk in Fords, with inland flooding at the top
62% of Fords’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by cold waves at 7%. On expected storm and flood damage, Fords sits below nearly three fifths of U.S. communities. Paid flood insurance claims in the town since 1978: 6.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
An age mix much like New Jersey’s
Fords: 15% of residents are 65 or older. New Jersey has 44% of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more; here it is 42%. In Fords, the midpoint age is 39.9 years.
| Fords | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 42% | 45% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 21% | 22% |
| Median age | 39.9 years | 42 years | 40.5 years |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.4 points. Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women.
| Fords | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.9% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.7% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.2% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.1% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.3% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.4% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.6% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.9% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 22.3% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 15.8% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 29.2% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.8% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Zillow puts the typical Fords home at about $530K
Fords’ typical rent stands at $1,913 a month. Values rose 4.1% in the 12 months to September 2026. For households in the town, the share who own their home is 72%.
| Fords | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,913 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 72% | 77% | 73% |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1.1% of Fords is conserved land
Fords’ trail density comes in at 0.1 miles per square mile. Trails total 0.1 miles in 1 park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Howell Ave Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Fords
Colleges nearby
15 within 15 miles of the center of Fords
About 10 of every 100 Fords residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
98% of working residents leave Fords for work
Where Fords’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Fords
Populated place in Middlesex County, New Jersey, US
Fords is a census-designated place (CDP) in Woodbridge Township, in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of new Jersey. As of the 2020 census, the CDP's population was 12,941.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 2.7 sq mi
- Elevation
- 138 ft
- ZIP code
- 08863
Fords’s neighbors
5 towns share a border with Fords.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fords | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Keasbey | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Woodbridge Township | #277 | B− | D− | — | C+ | A− |
| Edison Township | #210 | B+ | D | C+ | A− | A |
| Hopelawn | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Menlo Park Terrace | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Woodbridge Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Fords, Keasbey, Hopelawn and Menlo Park Terrace aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Fords with a neighbor →
Questions about Fords
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Fords, NJ a good place to live?
We don’t grade Fords yet; the figures below are still real.