Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes put Mountain Lakes near the very top of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 1.3% of residents, against 9.7% across New Jersey. Measured by household income, Mountain Lakes is among the highest-earning towns in the country. Jobs and income earn Mountain Lakes A+; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Mountain Lakes: the gist
A lot of Mountain Lakes works from home
31% of Mountain Lakes workers work from home, against 17% across New Jersey. Time on the road ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Mountain Lakes averages 34 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (22 to 28 minutes). Next door ↓
Mountain Lakes is where the jobs are
Mountain Lakes has 2,815 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Mountain Lakes’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mountain Lakes is New York City, NY, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (145) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Three in four Mountain Lakes workers earn over $40,000 a year
77% of Mountain Lakes’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
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.
Inside Mountain Lakes’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mountain Lakes is among the top U.S. towns, #5 of 468 in New Jersey. Household income is its strongest input ($250,000+, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (2.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
The Census reports Mountain Lakes’ median household income as $250,000+, the top of its scale; the grade ranks it as tied with the 111 other graded places at that ceiling.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mountain Lakes stays A+.
The daily trip from Mountain Lakes: about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mountain Lakes workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,548 commuters (the 31% 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.
Who leaves Mountain Lakes for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,771 residents head out to work, 104 work right here, and 2,711 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,600 people are in Mountain Lakes on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
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 commute from Mountain Lakes, by distance
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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
2,815 jobs are based in Mountain Lakes.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mountain Lakes, 2013 → 2023: 2,318 → 2,815. 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 Mountain Lakes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Mountain Lakes’s workers come from
Where Mountain Lakes clocks in
8% of workers
8% 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.
In Mountain Lakes, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mountain Lakes is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #181 of 468 in New Jersey. Both inputs place Mountain Lakes 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 2,237 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 66% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% 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). 0.6% of Mountain Lakes households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 8% of Mountain Lakes’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Mountain Lakes is 22nd of 3,798 U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,300
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| 6 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Hainesport Township NJ | 6,197 | $143K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 21 | Riva MD | 4,976 | $176K | 1.1% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| 22 | Mountain Lakes NJ | 4,649 | $250K | 1.3% | 2.4% | 6% | A+ |
| 23 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| 24 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,798 | 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 Mountain Lakes, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
Work in the towns next to Mountain Lakes
The biggest share goes to Parsippany-Troy Hills Township (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mountain Lakes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Lakes | – | A+ | A | 34 min | $250,000+ |
| Parsippany-Troy Hills Township | 8% | A | A | 28 min | $112,327 |
| Boonton | under 2% | B+ | B+ | 22 min | $114,302 |
| Rainbow Lakes | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Parsippany | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Boonton Township | under 2% | A | B− | 26 min | $192,188 |
Same-state neighbors only. Rainbow Lakes and Parsippany: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mountain Lakes’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.
- A ceiling on income. The Census stops at $250,000+, so the true median may be higher.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Mountain Lakes: questions
What is the median household income in Mountain Lakes?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mountain Lakes?
1.3%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mountain Lakes?
34 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 31% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mountain Lakes work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (8%, 30 mi), Parsippany-Troy Hills Township (8%, 2 mi), Denville Township (4%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mountain Lakes walkable?
Mountain Lakes is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.5 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mountain Lakes without a car?
8% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mountain Lakes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mountain Lakes
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.