Photo: General Magnaplate · CC BY 3.0Unemployment in Linden (9.5%) is higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Linden is better than 61% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (A+). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 8.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 43.7 in Jersey City. At home: 7% of workers have no commute at all (New Jersey 17%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Linden
Linden trades workers with the towns around it
Linden has about as many jobs (19,583) as working residents (20,089), but they are mostly different people: 18,174 residents leave for work each day while 17,668 people come in. Only 10% of the jobs in Linden are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Linden works one town over
25% of working residents work in a town that borders Linden: New York (10%), Elizabeth (7%) and Woodbridge Township (4%). Next door ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
41% of the jobs in Linden are in trade, transport and utilities, against 27% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Linden draws workers from far and wide
The 19,583 jobs in Linden are filled from a wide area. Linden’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 33%; the other 57% 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 Linden’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Linden’s grade up (among the top U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. 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, Linden could be anywhere from B− to B+.
The daily flow of workers through Linden
On a workday 18,174 residents head out to work, 1,915 work right here, and 17,668 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 (0.97 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.
The kinds of work in Linden
19,583 jobs are based in Linden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Linden, 2013 → 2023: 16,443 → 19,583. 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 Linden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
10% of working residents work in New York City
Where Linden clocks in
10% of workers
7% of workers
7% 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.
Getting to work from Linden 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 Linden workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 20,882 commuters (the 7% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Linden
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Linden
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 22,522 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 97% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 60% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 8.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 91% 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). 10.8% of Linden households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 7% of Linden’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Linden ranks: 559th of 969 U.S. towns of 32,000 to 62,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Westfield NJ | 32,595 | $233K | 1.8% | 3.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Livingston Township NJ | 32,223 | $230K | 2.3% | 4.3% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Marlboro Township NJ | 42,254 | $186K | 3.5% | 3.6% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 557 | Fairfield OH | 44,682 | $78K | 8.4% | 5.5% | 14% | B |
| 558 | La Puente CA | 36,423 | $87K | 11.3% | 6.2% | 3% | B |
| 559 | Linden NJ | 45,752 | $93K | 9.6% | 9.5% | 10% | B |
| 560 | Rohnert Park CA | 44,811 | $99K | 10.5% | 5.1% | 12% | B |
| 561 | Jeffersonville IN | 54,134 | $71K | 11.2% | 4.0% | 22% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 969 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Linden, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
25% of Linden works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to New York (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Linden workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linden | – | B | A+ | 32 min | $92,915 |
| Carteret | under 2% | B+ | A+ | 31 min | $96,862 |
| Roselle | under 2% | B | A+ | 33 min | $92,762 |
| Cranford Township | 2% | A+ | A+ | 35 min | $155,972 |
| Avenel | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Woodbridge Township | 4% | A− | A+ | 33 min | $108,928 |
| Elizabeth | 7% | C+ | A+ | 27 min | $66,555 |
| Winfield Township | under 2% | B+ | A | 25 min | $64,052 |
| Rahway | 2% | B | A+ | 32 min | $91,461 |
| Clark Township | under 2% | A+ | A− | 28 min | $133,504 |
Same-state neighbors only. Avenel: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Linden’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 Linden: questions
What is the median household income in Linden?
$92,915 (±$3,823) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Linden?
9.6%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Linden?
32 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Linden work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (10%, 16 mi), Newark (7%, 8 mi), Elizabeth (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Linden walkable?
Linden is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.4 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Linden without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 60% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Linden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Linden
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.