Navesink Light Station · Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0Highlands has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Employers in Highlands report 796 jobs for 2,070 working residents. Jobs and income earn Highlands B−; getting around on foot earns it A+. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.6 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 43.7 in Jersey City.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Highlands: the gist
Why Highlands gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Highlands is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #384 of 468 in New Jersey. Job access by car holds Highlands’ grade up (ahead of 78% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Highlands could be anywhere from C+ to A.
What Highlands’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Highlands, 2013 → 2023: 615 → 796. 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 Highlands’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Highlands for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,905 residents head out to work, 165 work right here, and 631 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,100 people are in Highlands on a workday afternoon, 29% 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 2023, primary jobs.
14% of working residents work in New York City
Where Highlands clocks in
14% 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.
A commute of about 35 minutes in Highlands
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Highlands workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,728 commuters (the 18% 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.
The distance from Highlands to work
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Highlands
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Highlands is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns, #81 of 468 in New Jersey. Both inputs place Highlands 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 2,119 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 74% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 56% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 65% 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). 6.0% of Highlands households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 10% of Highlands’ commuters take a bus or train.
Highlands places 1,979th of 4,136 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| 4 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Mountain Lakes NJ | 4,649 | $250K | 1.3% | 2.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,977 | Pima AZ | 3,181 | $98K | 5.1% | 4.1% | 18% | B− |
| 1,978 | Perryville MD | 4,592 | $78K | 11.4% | 4.2% | 8% | B− |
| 1,979 | Highlands NJ | 4,350 | $92K | 10.1% | 7.5% | 8% | B− |
| 1,980 | Jasper TN | 3,636 | $73K | 10.1% | 3.0% | 16% | B− |
| 1,981 | West Milwaukee WI | 3,984 | $49K | 20.4% | 1.6% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,136 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Highlands, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
The towns around Highlands
The biggest share goes to Middletown Township (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Highlands workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | – | B− | A+ | 35 min | $91,913 |
| Atlantic Highlands | 2% | A | A+ | 41 min | $126,080 |
| Middletown Township | 5% | A− | A | 35 min | $141,810 |
| Sea Bright | under 2% | B+ | A | 38 min | $143,241 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Highlands’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 Highlands: questions
What is the median household income in Highlands?
$91,913 (±$4,948) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Highlands?
10.1%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Highlands?
35 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Highlands work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (14%, 18 mi), Middletown Township (5%, 4 mi), Red Bank (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Highlands walkable?
Highlands is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.4 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Highlands without a car?
10% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 56% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Highlands, from the people who make the trip.
More of Highlands
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.