Photo: Smallbones · Public domainLower Township has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
There are 4,682 jobs in Lower Township, against 9,010 working residents. Lower Township grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.3 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 Lower Township: the gist
Commutes from Lower Township are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 31 across New Jersey. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical New Jersey worker. Time on the road ↓
Lower Township and Middle Township trade workers both ways
Middle Township is the top workplace for Lower Township residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Lower Township come from (17% of its jobs). 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.
The four measures behind Lower Township’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lower Township is better than 41% of U.S. towns, #427 of 468 in New Jersey. The poverty rate holds Lower Township’s grade up (7.7%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (7.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lower Township could be anywhere from C to B.
From Lower Township, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lower Township workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,322 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.
17% of working residents work in Middle Township
Where Lower Township clocks in
17% 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.
Lower Township quiets down on a workday
On a workday 6,948 residents head out to work, 2,062 work right here, and 2,620 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Lower Township on a workday afternoon, 20% 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.
The kinds of work in Lower Township
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lower Township, 2013 → 2023: 3,724 → 4,682. 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 Lower Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Lower Township goes to work
About 26% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
In Lower Township, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lower Township is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #328 of 468 in New Jersey. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 13.2% across New Jersey.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 10,319 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 8% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 62% 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). 4.9% of Lower Township households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Lower Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,304th of 1,787: where Lower Township ranks among U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Hanover Township NJ | 15,105 | $157K | 3.2% | 2.6% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Berkeley Heights Township NJ | 15,140 | $205K | 1.9% | 3.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Scotch Plains Township NJ | 25,437 | $184K | 2.5% | 3.2% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,302 | Azalea Park FL | 16,180 | $63K | 14.0% | 6.7% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,303 | Edgewater FL | 24,795 | $61K | 10.0% | 3.7% | 14% | C+ |
| 1,304 | Lower Township NJ | 21,533 | $85K | 7.7% | 7.0% | 23% | C+ |
| 1,305 | Estelle LA | 16,341 | $79K | 17.0% | 7.8% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,306 | South El Monte CA | 18,963 | $73K | 20.9% | 7.4% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Lower Township, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
Work next door: 30% of Lower Township’s workers
The biggest share goes to Middle Township (17%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lower Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Township | – | C+ | A− | 19 min | $84,962 |
| Cape May | 8% | C+ | A | 18 min | $62,576 |
| Middle Township | 17% | C+ | A− | 20 min | $83,508 |
| Wildwood Crest | 1% | C | A | 19 min | $69,089 |
| West Cape May | under 2% | — | — | 15 min | — |
| Cape May Point | under 2% | — | — | 16 min | — |
| Wildwood | 4% | C | A+ | 23 min | $75,222 |
Same-state neighbors only. West Cape May: not graded. Cape May Point: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lower Township’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 Lower Township: questions
What is the median household income in Lower Township?
$84,962 (±$5,027) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lower Township?
7.7%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lower Township?
19 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 Lower Township work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Middle Township (17%, 8 mi), Cape May (8%, 3 mi), Wildwood (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lower Township walkable?
Lower Township is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lower Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 8% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lower Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lower Township
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.