Photo: Wikijazz · CC BY-SA 3.0Long Branch has higher unemployment (7.0%) than 82% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 43.7 in Jersey City. Jobs and income earn Long Branch C+; getting around on foot earns it A. About one in seven work in Long Branch itself; outside it, New York City draws the most (7%, 26 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Long Branch and work: the main findings
Income, poverty and work: Long Branch’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Long Branch is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #416 of 468 in New Jersey. Job access by car holds Long Branch’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Long Branch could be anywhere from C to B.
The towns that employ Long Branch’s residents
Where Long Branch clocks in
7% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
Who works in Long Branch, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 9,661 residents head out to work, 1,665 work right here, and 7,551 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 (0.81 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 Long Branch
9,216 jobs are based in Long Branch.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Long Branch, 2013 → 2023: 8,043 → 9,216. 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 Long Branch’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Long Branch: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Long Branch workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,986 commuters (the 10% 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.
Half of Long Branch commutes less than 18 miles
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: Long Branch
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Long Branch is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #186 of 468 in New Jersey. Both inputs place Long Branch 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 15,529 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 76% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 19% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 69% 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). 10.9% of Long Branch households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Long Branch’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 23,000 to 45,000, Long Branch ranks 974th of 1,315 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Scotch Plains Township NJ | 25,437 | $184K | 2.5% | 3.2% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Westfield NJ | 32,595 | $233K | 1.8% | 3.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Cranford Township NJ | 24,725 | $156K | 2.5% | 3.6% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 972 | Montclair CA | 37,563 | $78K | 17.7% | 6.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 973 | Lawrenceville GA | 32,822 | $62K | 15.4% | 5.1% | 10% | C+ |
| 974 | Long Branch NJ | 33,321 | $80K | 15.5% | 7.0% | 15% | C+ |
| 975 | Falmouth MA | 33,361 | $93K | 9.6% | 6.3% | 39% | C+ |
| 976 | Hobart Township IN | 39,973 | $70K | 12.4% | 7.3% | 12% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,315 | 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 Long Branch, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
The towns around Long Branch
The biggest share goes to West Long Branch (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Long Branch workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long Branch | – | C+ | A | 30 min | $79,653 |
| Oceanport | under 2% | A− | A | 34 min | $126,094 |
| Monmouth Beach | under 2% | A | A | 32 min | $150,188 |
| West Long Branch | 3% | A− | A | 23 min | $114,271 |
| Deal | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Deal: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Long Branch’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 Long Branch: questions
What is the median household income in Long Branch?
$79,653 (±$10,543) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Long Branch?
15.5%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Long Branch?
30 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Long Branch work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (7%, 26 mi), Eatontown (4%, 3 mi), Ocean Township (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Long Branch walkable?
Long Branch is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.6 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Long Branch without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 19% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Long Branch, from the people who make the trip.
More of Long Branch
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.