Photo: Kritzolina · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Highland Lakes works elsewhere
Highland Lakes has 175 jobs for 2,232 working residents. Only 1% stay in Highland Lakes for work; outside it, Vernon Township is the main destination (10%, 2 miles). 23% of workers have no commute at all, against 17% across New Jersey.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Highland Lakes
Highland Lakes workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 44 minutes each way, against 31 across New Jersey. Over a year that’s about 337 hours of commuting, 100 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
No single place dominates Highland Lakes’ commute
The biggest draw, New York City, NY, gets only 5% of working residents, and 67% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Highland Lakes residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
A commute of about 44 minutes in Highland Lakes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 14 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Highland Lakes workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,758 commuters (the 23% 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.
Commuting out of Highland Lakes: the destinations
Where Highland Lakes clocks in
10% of workers
5% 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.
How a workday changes Highland Lakes
On a workday 2,200 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 143 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Highland Lakes on a workday afternoon, 53% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
What Highland Lakes’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Highland Lakes, 2014 → 2024: 133 → 175. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Highland Lakes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Highland Lakes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Highland Lakes: questions
What is the median household income in Highland Lakes?
$109,000 (±$28,478) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Highland Lakes?
2.7%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Highland Lakes?
44 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Highland Lakes work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vernon Township (10%, 2 mi), New York City (5%, 44 mi), Wayne Township (3%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Highland Lakes without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Highland Lakes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Highland Lakes
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.